Santolina neapolitana
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New article for Trees and Shrubs Online.
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'Santolina neapolitana' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Synonyms
- Santolina neapolitana Jord. & Fourr.
- Santolina rosmarinifolia Hort., not L.
- Santolina pinnata subsp. neapolitana (Jord. & Fourr.) Guinea ex C.Jeffrey
Infraspecifics
Editorial Note
Treated by Bean as a subspecies of another Italian endemic, Santolina pinnata. Modern taxonomic opinion tends to regard these as distinct species within the broader mediterranean Santolina chamaecyparissus complex, on the basis of morphology, ecology (climate niche), and distribution. S. pinnata and S. neapolitana both have very restricted distributions, located at different ends of the peninsula – see Giacò et al. (2022). S. etrusca – also formerly treated as a subspecies of S. pinnata – is another endemic species with a strongly allopatric distribution in Lazio and Umbria. The distinctive pattern of distribution within the Italian Santolina species has been noted as unusual.
An evergreen, rather pleasantly scented shrub 2 to 21⁄2 ft high, producing a closely packed crowd of erect, slender branches covered with white felt. Leaves 1 to 2 in. long, 1⁄8 to 1⁄4 in. wide, either pinnate or with leaflets superposed in four rows, the leaflets (or perhaps better termed ‘leaf-segments’) are 1⁄12 to 1⁄4 in. long, cylindrical, round-ended, 1⁄36 in. in diameter, covered with white down on the young non-flowering shoots, green and less downy on the flowering ones. Flowers bright yellow, borne in a compact, circular, cushion-shaped head, 3⁄4 in. wide, in July, each head on a slender erect stalk 3 to 6 in. long, from six to twelve heads being produced at or near the end of each shoot.
Native of S. Italy. This attractive shrub, often grown wrongly as “S. rosmarinifolia”, differs from S. chamaecyparissus by the longer leaves and by the longer, more slender segments of the leaf. It makes a bright display when in flower. It should be grown in full sunshine and is better in rather poor soil than in rich, the foliage being whiter and the growths sturdier and less liable to fall apart, thus leaving the centre of the plant open and unsightly. Pruned plants produce shoots which are at first quite green.
'Sulphurea'
Leaves greyish green; flowers pale primrose-yellow.
'Edward Bowles'
Leaves greenish grey; flowers creamy white.