Plant · P-586

Rosemary

Salvia rosmarinus

Rosemary is a woody Mediterranean shrub grown for its resinous, needle-like leaves, used fresh or dried as a strong culinary herb and distilled into an essential oil for perfumery and soap. Its early, long-blooming blue flowers make it one of the better food sources for bees and butterflies at the start of the season, and it takes clipping well enough to double as a low evergreen hedge. It wants a hot, sunny, sharply drained spot - heavy clay and wet winters rot the roots faster than cold ever kills the plant outright. Large medicinal doses are unsafe in pregnancy, though ordinary culinary use is not a concern.