Lavandula stoechas
Lavandula stoechas, the Spanish lavender or topped lavender or French lavender, is a species of lavender native to the Mediterranean Basin.
Taxonomy
The flower was first recorded by Greek botanist Pedanius Dioscorides as the name στοιχάς stoikhas coming from the Stoechades Islands, the Greek name became its specific epithet.Subspecies
The recognised subspecies are:- L. stoechas ssp. luisieri, native to the southwest quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula. It has lanceolate axilary leaves that are much larger than those of the nominal subspecies, along with a greyish indumentum.
Description
It is an evergreen shrub that usually grows to between tall, but occasionally up to tall in the subspecies L. stoechas subsp. luisieri. Its leaves are 1–4 cm long, greyish and tomentose. The inflorescence is crowned by a mass of purple elongated ovoid bracts about 5 cm long. Lower flowers form a tight rectangle in cross-section. The upper of the five teeth has a wrong-heart-shaped appendage. The crown is blackish-violet, up to 8 mm long and indistinct two-lipped.The flowers, which appear in late spring and early summer, are pink to purple, produced on spikes 2 cm long at the top of slender, leafless stems long; each flower is subtended by a bract 4–8 mm long. At the top of the spike are a number of much larger, sterile bracts, 10–50 mm long and bright lavender purple. It blooms in spring and early summer, from the month of March in its native habitat, depending on the climate in which it grows.
Cultivation
This species is more tender than common lavender, being less frost-resistant, but harsher and more resinous in its oils. Like other lavenders, it is associated with hot, dry, sunny conditions in alkaline soils. However, it tolerates a range of situations, though it may be short-lived. Hardy down to .The following cultivars have won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-
- 'Ballerina'
- 'Pretty Polly'
- 'Willow Vale'