I've posted on how I finally figured out how to grow an attractive lemon verbena, not just a fragrant one. But even a scraggly one is a joy to brush up against, let alone to pick a leaf and crush it in your cupped hands to inhale all the more of the suspiciously-powerful lemon fragrance.

The flowers, though, are entirely forgettable.

Poor thing: you wish it wouldn't even try to bloom. It doesn't get a whit more interesting when the teensy white flowers open.

Almond verbena, though, has taken up the challenge of doing something decent with its flowers.
Showy and profuse, the spikes of white flowers are a powerfully-delicate (so to speak) contrast to the larger and bland foliage.

As the spikes age, the appeal is, if anything, even greater: The older flowers drop off the spike all by themselves, leaving the newer flowers nicely exposed at the end of the still-lengthening top. It's like still photography of tiny white fireworks.


Almond verbena isn't satisfied with mere visuals, though. Indeed, it has doubled-down on its mission of having great flowers. The eye-appeal of the plant as well as the fragrance is all right there in the flowers. It's the leaves that are entirely forgettable now. And what a fragrance it is: Almond and as penetrating as if the plant were sucking in almond essence with a straw.

Why is it both of these bushes are so strongly fragrant of a plant that eacg is, so clearly, not? Lemon Verbena isn't a citrus tree. Almond Verbena sure isn't an almond tree either.

Is Latin any help? The Latin for both is Aloysia. Lemon Verbena is Aloysia triphylla (with leaves in threes up the stems). Almond Verbena is Aloysia virgata; virgata is, unhelpfully, is latin for rod, i.e., something about the plant is long and narrow. The flower spikes I guess; it sure isn't the foliage.

Is there an aloysia out there with the fragrance of, uhm, aloy? That can be itself, not an imposter? Another cousin, Aloysia wrightii, has leaves that smell so much like oregano that you can, in a pinch (so to speak) use them instead. Another, Aloysia gratissima, has vanilla-scented flowers. Aloysia macrostachya has thyme or oregano-scented leaves.

Apparently, then, NO, aloysias don't smell like aloy. They aren't "aloysiac" at all, at least as far as your nose can tell. Instead, they are each the adoring wannabe fan of some other plant: Lemon, almond, oregano, vanilla, thyme. Aloysias are a big family, and I've only introduced them. What other aloysias are out there? And what fragrant plant is each of them channeling?

So far, aloysias are easy keepers for me: they go leafless and dormant at the slightest frost, and then I hustle the into the basement for the Winter. I've a mind to collect the other varieties, so each Summer I can have a whole spice-shelf of fragrance.