Thursday 14 August 2014

COLEONEMA OR DIOSMA?

Coleonema is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rutaceae. The eight known species are all from the western Cape Province of South Africa. In Australia, where they are cultivated as garden ornamentals, they are often incorrectly referred to as Diosma.

Coleonema pulchellum, commonly known as confetti bush, buchu, diosma or breath of heaven, is a shrub which is endemic to South Africa. It grows to between 0.8 and 1 metre high. Single pink flowers to about 8 mm in diameter appear between May and October in the species native range. The flowers are slightly fragrant, but the leaves when crushed emit a strong, pleasant, distinctive, almost pine-like odour.

The species was formally described in 1981 in the Journal of South African Botany. Prior to this, plants in cultivation had been erroneously identified as Coleonema pulchrum. The species is naturalised in Victoria, Australia.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.




2 comments:

I love to hear from you, so please comment. I appreciate constructive criticism as it improves my skills as an amateur photographer.