Candytuft

Plant Characteristics

Habit		shrub
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial, annual
Bloom:	❀	early summer

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
Water:	◍	wet, moist
Features:	✓	flowers
Flower features:	❀	pink, white

Scientific Names

Brassicaceae >

Iberis >

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Iberis is a genus of flowering plant belonging to the family Brassicaceae. It comprises herbs and subshrubs of the Old World. These species are commonly known as candytufts. Used in Homeopathy for nervousness and muscle soreness. According to the US Dispensatory (1918)the leaves, stem, and root are said to possess medicinal properties, but the seeds are most efficacious. The plant appears to have been employed by the ancients in rheumatism, gout, and other diseases. In large doses it is said to produce giddiness, nausea, and diarrhea, and to be useful in cardiac hypertrophy, asthma, and bronchitis in doses of from one to three grains (0.065--0.2 Gm.) of the seed. Currently the foliage and stalks are employed in German Phytomedicine as a bitter digestive tonic.

The genus Iberis consists of about 50 species of annuals, perennials and evergreen subshrubs. They are excellent for rock gardens, bedding and borders. Candytuft is a fast-hardy, fast-growing annual with lance shaped green leaves. It reaches a height of about 12 inches with a spread of about 6 inches. Lightly trim after flowering.

ExpandRead about Candytuft in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Iberis(from Iberia, the ancient name of Spain, where many species occur). Cruciferae. Candytuft. Small flower-garden and border plants. Annual, biennial or perennial, sometimes half- shrubby, usually glabrous but sometimes ciliate or even hairy: lvs. alternate, entire or pinnatifid, sometimes fleshy: fls. racemose or corymbose, white or purplish, the outer ones in the dense cluster more or less radiate; sepals 4, deciduous; petals 4, the 2 outer much larger than the others; stamens 4, free, not appendaged: fr. a scale-shaped roundish or ovate pod which is margined or winged and often notched at the top, piano- compressed; seeds single in each locule, ovate, not margined.—Species 30-40, native to S. Eu., W. Asia and N. Afr., all low-growing plants. Comparatively few species are cult. The annuals are the common candytuft of gardens. The biennials are not cult. The subshrubs are flat, dwarf, compact, commonly evergreen plants, with dark green lvs., completely covered with broad, flat or elongated clusters of irregular cruciferous fls. in spring. The common white-fld. annual candytuft is I. amara. The common annual kinds with colored fls. are I. umbellata. The common perennial kind is I. semperrvirens. The clusters of some kinds remain rather flat-topped when they run to seed, while the clusters of other kinds lengthen after flowering; these differences are made division points in the arrangement of species, following. The annuals are showy branching plants, 6 to 18 inches high, much grown in masses in beds or for edging. Florists grow them also, especially the white varieties, for cut-flowers. They are of easy cultivation, and succeed in any rich garden soil, in a place exposed to light and air. They are propagated by seeds, which may be sown at any season, in the house or open ground, but particularly in the fall when the climate permits, or as early as possible in spring, in rows 6 to 8 inches apart where the plants are to grow, the plants being thinned later to 4 inches apart in the row. The finest display is attained from autumn-sown plants, which flower from May to July. If seed is sown in autumn, the plants1 should be slightly protected from the sun during winter. Seeds sown early in the spring bloom from July to September. Continuous bloom may be obtained by sowing every two weeks. Good results are attained by sowing under glass and transplanting into open ground when the soil is warm. To secure the best bloom, the plants should be given much room, and never crowded. The name candytuft was given because the flowers appear in tufts and because the first introduced species, I. umbellata, was brought from Candia.—The subshrubby species are adapted to the front of shrubberies, where they connect taller plants with the surrounding lawn. They may appear in separate clumps, in broad masses, or may mingle with other genera in the herbaceous border. They are suited to rockeries, and hang well over walls and ledges. They are to be treated much like herbaceous perennials. They are plants of refinement, and are pleasing when close to the observer. They are useful and popular for cut-flowers, are easily forced into bloom in winter, and are adapted to pot and pan culture. They are easily propagated. The perennial iberis succeed best when let alone. Once planted and not disturbed, they soon form a dense foliage. They are the best spreading, dwarf plants with white flowers. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Varieties

Iberis amara - rocket candytuft
Iberis gibraltarica - Gibraltar candytuft
Iberis sempervirens - evergreen candytuft, perennial candytuft
Iberis umbellata - globe candytuft

ExpandRead about Candytuft in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

affinis, 2. alba, 9. amara, 1. carminea, 9. carnea, 9. corifolia, 6. coronaria, 1. dunnettii, 9. foliis variegatis, 5,12. garrexiana, 7. gibraltarica, 8. hybrida, 8, 9. lilacina, 9. nana,9. odorata, 3. pectinala, 2. petraea, 10. pinnata, 4. plena, 5, 12. pruitii, 11. pumila, 9. pupurea, 9. rosea, 5, 9. saxatilis, 6. semperflorens, 12. sempervirens, 5. superba. 5. tenoreana, 10. umbellata, 9. I. cordifolia is an error for I. corifolia. I. correaefolia, Hort., is a common trade name abroad, which is usually spelled, I. corraefolia in American catalogues. There is no genus Corra, and Correa is an Australian plant of the Rutaceae. Specimens should therefore be compared with I. saxatilia var. corifolia. Mottet's description, however, would place this plant directly after I. garrexiana in the key, being distinguished from I. garrexiana by the fls. becoming purplish instead of always remaining white. Mottet says that I. correrfolia, Hort., is a hybrid, with spatulate, entire, obtuse lvs.— I. hyacinthiflora, Hort., is an annual candytuft with milk-white fls. in elongated panicles. It is said to be a first-quality cut-S. for summer bloom.—I. jucunda, Schott & Kotschy equals Aethionema coridifolium.—I. lagancana, DC. Annual, 1 ft.: lvs. oblong- spatulate, toothed at apex: fls. pure white, in close corymbs: pods 2-lobed. Spain.—I. lilacina of trade catalogues is presumably a lilac-fld. variety of I. umbellata.—I. nana hybrida, Hort., is not I. nana, All., a distinct botanical species, but a trade name of mixed dwarf varieties of some common annual kind, presumably I. umbellate. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Gallery

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

• w:Candytuft. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Candytuft QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)