New York City Alyssum

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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.

More like this

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.

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.