Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

New York City Alyssum

Posted by "GrrlScientist" on May 30, 2009
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White Sweet Alyssum, Lobularia (Alyssum) maritima.

Photographed on Manhattan’s Upper West Side
on West 83rd street, across from the post office.

Image: GrrlScientist, 27 May 2009 [larger view].

When I was a kid in Washington State, I saw Alyssum everywhere, so I never appreciated them until recently. Seeing these tiny flowers was like being reunited with a long-lost friend.

Lobularia is a genus comprising roughly 100-170 species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae. They are native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region.

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Comments

  1. #1 Bob O'H
    May 30, 2009

    Oooh, a cabbage!

    And who else mis-read the name as “New York City Asylum”?

  2. #2 "GrrlScientist"
    May 30, 2009

    the misread was my hope.

  3. #3 Alex
    May 30, 2009

    I did ^_^

  4. #4 Carrie Burrows
    May 31, 2009

    I have some version of those growing freely in my front yard…and gutters ;)

  5. #5 ACW
    June 1, 2009

    The plant is called “Sweet Alyssum”, but the genus seems to be Lobularia. I was curious about why that was, so I looked in Wikipedia, which says that the genus Lobularia is a little group of half-a-dozen species which used to be considered part of the genus Alyssum. I’d guess they were given their own genus on the basis of molecular evidence.

  6. #6 ACW
    June 1, 2009

    The plant is called “Sweet Alyssum”, but the genus seems to be Lobularia. I was curious about why that was, so I looked in Wikipedia, which says that the genus Lobularia is a little group of half-a-dozen species which used to be considered part of the genus Alyssum. I’d guess they were given their own genus on the basis of molecular evidence.