Whitebrush
Aloysia gratissima
Its intense vanilla-honey fragrance is so powerful that a single blooming patch can perfume an entire canyon after a desert rain.
- Scientific name
- Aloysia gratissima
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Lamiales › Verbenaceae › Aloysia
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- desert
- Habitat
- Chihuahuan desert scrub, gravelly slopes, canyons, and dry brushlands.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (Photosynthesis)
- Range
- Southern United States, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay
- Size
- 1 to 3 meters (3 to 10 feet) tall
- Lifespan
- 15-30 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Land development, agricultural clearing, and invasive grass competition.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to humans. You can safely touch and smell the fragrant white flowers. However, it contains monoterpenes toxic to horses and mules; do not allow equine companions to graze on it. If ingested by horses, contact a veterinarian immediately.
Aloysia gratissima , commonly called whitebrush or beebrush , is a species of flowering plant in the verbena family Verbenaceae. It is native to Texas through Arizona in the United States, northern Mexico through Veracruz and Oaxaca in North America and southern Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, northern Argentina, and central Chile in South America.
Photo: Sam Kieschnick, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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