Nomenclature

Species name:

Lobularia maritima   (L.) Desv.

Author(s):

Carl von Linné;
   Sweden, 1707-1778

Common names:

Sweet Alison, Sweet Alyssum

Maltese name:

Buttuniera

Plant Family:

Brassicaceae/ Cruciferae   (Mustard (Cress) Family)

Name Derivation:

Lobularia = Means a small pod, referring to the seedpod. (Latin)
maritima = Maritime; related to the coast or the sea. Maritime, sea-borne, related to the sea with reference to the coastal habitat of the plant. (Latin) (Latin origin).

Synonyms:

Alyssum maritimum, Alyssum minimum, Clypeola maritima

Remarks:

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Morphology

Specifications & Description

Life Cycle:

Perennial.

Habitat:

Rocky places, Garigues, Steppes, and valley tops. Commonly found along waysides.

Frequency:

Very Common

Localities in Malta:

Very Common throughout the garigues and upper valley sides of the Maltese Islands. Cannot be missed during November and December.

Plant Height:

10-40cm.

Flowering Period:

Nov - Jun

Poison:

Not Poisonous.

This plant is usually described as annual but in Malta (as in certain places in Zone 9 and 10), climate conditions are favourable, and the plant can live all year long. Thus in Malta its life cycle is described as perennial. The plant has an ascending or prostate stem which is glabrous and has many short sub-branching stems. They form long raceme inflorescences with planty of scented flowers that are produced in most months of the year.

The leaves are quite small (about 30mm long) and simple, arranged alternately along the lower part of the stem. They have a fusiform shape, smooth outline, and have shiny greyish green colour due to the presence of many flattened fine white bristles.

The lying stems arise erect few centimetres below the location where the inflorescence starts. The plant produces racemes of very small flowers which can be few centimetres short or grow fairly long. The tiny flowers of about 5mm in diameter, are almost always white in colour in Malta, but there are plants described with lavender or pale purple flowers. As in racemes, the small flowers are densely clustered at the tip of the stem, and further down they get more spaced as they develop to the fruit,

The flowers have 4, small, circular white petals; 4 sepals; 6 tetradynamous stamens (4 long and central, 2 short and lateral) which are yellow and a central very small pistil deep inside the flower which can hardly be seen by the naked eye. The flowers give off a pleasant scent similar to honey and particularly noted when flowers are in plentiful clusters.

After fertilisation, the petals and other parts fall off, leaving a small, circular seed pod of 3.5mm across which is attached to the stem by a long stalk. This structure is called a silicule. At its apical edge the silicule has a characteristic small rod-shaped projection, which previously was the style+stigma of the flower. There can be only two seeds present per silicule. When the fruit is ripe, the 2 walls forming the outer halves of the silicule fall off and expose the seed outside. These fall down without any means of dispersion leaving a translucent partition (called the replum).

The peach-brown seeds are very small (just about 1mm in diameter), circular in shape and flattened.

Information and Details

Cultivation Notes:

Succeeds in an ordinary garden soil in a sunny position [200]. Succeeds in sandy soils [188]. Grows well on dry walls [1]. Tolerates maritime conditions [200]. Although a short-lived perennial, it soon loses its compact habit if grown for more than one year and so is usually grown as an annual plant in gardens [245]. A very ornamental plant, there are several named forms developed for their ornamental value. This species usually self-sows in the garden if growing in a good position [1]. A fast-growing plant [188], it makes a good edging to a plant bed. The forms of this species with white flowers have the refreshing scent of new-mown hay - flowers of other colours having little or no scent. [245] A good bee and butterfly plant [17, 30].

Medicinal Uses:

The plant is commonly used in Spain as an antiscorbutic ( can be used to treat scurvy = lack of vitamin C [271] ) and diuretic ( promotes the flow of urine [271]) . It is also highly esteemed as an astringent ( causes shrinkage and drying of surface membranes [271]) in the treatment of gonorrhoea. [240]

Edible Uses:

The young leaves, stems and flowers are sometimes used as a flavouring in salads and other dishes where pungency is required. [183]

Other Uses:

In his book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" Michael Pollan talks about an organic farm that plant sweet alyssum between every few rows of lettuce since it attracts the lacewings & syrphid flies that eat the aphids that molest the lettuces. [Personal communication by Kirk M. Wuest]

Personal observations:

Miscellaneaous

• It has been reported that there are violet and apricot coloured flower variants of this plant. In Malta these are very rare or more probably do not grow at all. Only the white form predominates in Malta. [SM]
  
  
• The scent of this flower is very sweet and is very similar to honey. [SM]
  
• The flowers of this plant is mostly observed in November when most of the wild plants are not yet in blossom. During late winter and spring these low plants may be masked by other dense and higher plants. They are often easily seen in Winter and Spring in rocky waysides where there is not much high or dense plants (for example the invasive Oxalis pes-caprae) growing around [SM]
  

Photo Gallery

IMAGE: LBLMT-01
Close up photo of flowers. Numereous tiny white flowers each measuring about about 5mm across.

IMAGE: LBLMT-02
Close up photo of flowers. Each flower hase 4 white petals arranged diagonally to each other.

IMAGE: LBLMT-03
Close up photo of flowers. As it can be seen, the flower consists of 6 stamens with yellow anthers and a central swollen stigma.

IMAGE: LBLMT-04
Close up photo of flowers. Stamens of mature flowers usually have a purple-brown filament and yellow anthers. In young flowers the filaments (and style) is green.

IMAGE: LBLMT-05
Close up photo of flower cluster at the tip of the branching stem. Individual flowers are very small, about 5mm across.

IMAGE: LBLMT-06
Photo of white flowers in situ.

IMAGE: LBLMT-07
Close up photo of flowers. As seen here, young flowers have green styles and stamens with green filaments, but with time these become purple-brown as it can be noted in the peripheral flowers.

IMAGE: LBLMT-08
Annotated scanned image of a flower cluster under dark background.

IMAGE: LBLMT-09
In rare cases, the plant with purple (or lilac) colour are seen in the wild. There is a cultivated variety of Loblaria maritima which has deep purple colours (see photo below).

IMAGE: LBLMT-10
Scanned image of a single flower.

IMAGE: LBLMT-11
Scanned image of a single flower against a dark background. Although it seems that there are 7 yellow anthers, one of them is the style covered with yellow pollen.

IMAGE: LBLMT-12
Scanned and annotated image of bud, young flowers and mature flowers.

IMAGE: LBLMT-13
Photo of a young plant showing several leaves which are between fusiform and oblanceolate in shape.

IMAGE: LBLMT-14
Scanned image of the fusiform (spindle-like) shaped leaves.

IMAGE: LBLMT-15
Photo of the flowering stem showing fruit at the basal part, and flowers at the upper part.

IMAGE: LBLMT-16
Scanned and annotated image of the flowering stem.

IMAGE: LBLMT-17
Photo of the mature fruit. It consists of a small rounded and flattened pouch which holds one or two seeds. This fruiting structure is called a silicule and is defined as a short silique usually having a length less than two times its width.

IMAGE: LBLMT-18
Photo of an empty silicule. The central semi-translucent partition (to which seeds are attached on both sides) remains for some days until it ruptures and leaves a hollowed circular structure. Both instances are seen in this photo.

IMAGE: LBLMT-19
Scanned and annotated image of the fruit which is a sillicule. On maturation the fruit becomes translucent and one can see the seed inside.

IMAGE: LBLMT-20
Scanned image demonstrating the development of the fruit from the embryo stage to the formation of the ripe seeds.

IMAGE: LBLMT-21
Scanned image of the orange-brown seeds.

IMAGE: LBLMT-22
Magnified scanned image of seeds showing that they are enclosed in a semitranslucent chamber and are situated eccentrically inside.

IMAGE: LBLMT-23
Magnified image of pollen under the light microscope.

IMAGE: LBLMT-24
Magnified image of pollen under the light microscope. They are pitted and have a rugby ball shape.

IMAGE: LBLMT-25
Photo of plant in a rocky habitat during November. In Malta, the flowers are best in bloom during November, December and January.

IMAGE: LBLMT-26
Photo of plant taken at one of its preferred habitat, that is waysides with rocks or stones.

IMAGE: LBLMT-27
Photo of plants taken at Dingli. This plant is commonly found lining pathways, stone walls and passages in the countryside. The plant is prominent between October to December when there is not much flowers or high foliage.

IMAGE: LBLMT-28
Photo of a violet flower variant. (author and copyright of G.D. Carr). This and any other coloured flower forms are not found in Malta.

IMAGE: LBLMT-29
Photo of a young plant showing its first inflorescence and several small leaves.

IMAGE: LBLMT-30
Photo (lateral view) of the flowering raceme. There are many tightly packed flowers at the tip of the raceme followed by fruits at progressive maturation down the stem which are more well spaced between each other.

IMAGE: LBLMT-31
Photo of plenty of flowers in situ. This low-growing plant looks attractive when it covers a patch of ground with numerous white flowers as seen in this photo.

IMAGE: LBLMT-32
Black and white illustration of the plant and its parts taken from:   http://www.programanthos.org.

IMAGE: LBLMT-33
Photo of silicules one next to each other along stem. The translucent partition between the fruiting compartments (each holding one seed) remains for some time before it gets destroyed.

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