Horticulture/Rosmarinus

Rosmarinus is a small genus of woody, perennial herbs with fragrant evergreen needle-like leaves in the family ../Lamiaceae/, native to the Mediterranean region.

Varieties
There are just two species, ../Rosmarinus officinalis/ (Rosemary), widespread in the Mediterranean region, and ../Rosmarinus eriocalyx/, native to northwest Africa and southern Spain. The latter differs from the well-known herb rosemary in its smaller leaves, only 5-15 mm long and less than 2 mm broad, and densely hairy flower stems. It also tends to be lower-growing, often under 25 cm tall and prostrate, and never exceeding 1 m tall (R. officinalis can reach 1.5 m, exceptionally 2 m, tall).