Get to know 20 plants selected from Libya. Discover their scientific names, identifying features and growing needs.
Olea europaea
Has a rugged, much-branched habit and slow growth, eventually 4.5-9m. Leaves are narrowly obovate or oval, to 7.5cm long, leathery, silvery beneath. Very small white flowers are borne in axillary racemes to 5cm long. Many cultivated varieti
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Jasminum sambac
J. sambac is a twining or scrambling evergreen shrub with glossy simple leaves and clusters of very fragrant white flowers 2.5cm across, in summer and sporadically at other times
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Syngonium podophyllum
S. podophyllum is an evergreen climber, to 2m tall, compact when young with large arrow-shaped leaves veined and suffused with silvery-white; adult leaves are divided into 5-11 finger-like leaflets. Arum-like flowerheads with cream spathes
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Psidium guajava
An evergreen shrub or small tree up to 6m tall with prominently-veined, ovate to oblong leaves up to 15cm long with serrated margins. White flowers to 2.5cm across with brush-like clusters of long stamens are borne singly or in small groups
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Delonix regia
A tropical, evergreen tree to 10m tall and wide in its native Madagascar. It bears elegant, fern-like leaves and clusters of exotic-looking, bright red flowers. In frost-prone areas grow in a temperate greenhouse as foliage plants, since th
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Aloe vera
An evergreen perennial to 0.6m, forming rosettes of fleshy, narrow, dull green leaves with spiny margins, with long racemes of tubular greenish-yellow flowers 3cm in length in racemes to 90cm in length
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Vitis vinifera
Woody plant, climbing by tendrils, about 15-18m tall. Leaves are 3 or 5-lobed, coarsely toothed, to 15cm long and wide, with stalks half as long as the blade. Flowers are tiny, greenish, in loose panicles, fruit oval or globose grapes. This
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Pelargonium graveolens is a bushy evergreen subshrub with deeply lobed, softly hairy, grey-green leaves that release a warm rose- and citronella-like scent when touched. In summer, small pink, mauve or white flowers appear in loose clusters
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Ficus carica
A large shrub or small, spreading tree to around 3m tall and 4m wide with rounded, lobed leaves. Insignificant flowers are followed by edible fruit that ripen to shades of green and purple. Many cultivated varieties of fig have been develop
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Marrubium vulgare
A slowly spreading perennial to around 50cm high, with upright, square, woolly white stems bearing rounded, grey-green leaves with scalloped edges and woolly undersides. Small white flowers are borne in dense whorls around the stems in summ
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Mirabilis jalapa
M. jalapa is a bushy, tuberous perennial often grown as an annual, with fragrant flowers opening in the afternoon, in a wide range of colours, and sometimes bicoloured
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Morus alba
A small to mid-sized deciduous tree, with a spreading habit and ovate to heart-shaped, glossy, toothed green leaves, turning pale yellow in autumn. Pale green catkins are produced in late spring and early summer, followed by edible, raspber
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Persea americana
P. americana is a bushy evergreen shrub or small tree, with glossy, lance-shaped or elliptic leaves, rarely flowering in cultivation in temperate climates
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Catharanthus roseus
A woody-based evergreen perennial, to 45cm in height, with somewhat fleshy stems bearing ovate leaves and 5-petalled flowers, to 4cm across, pink, red or white in colour
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Triticum aestivum
A hardy annual utilised for centuries as a cereal crop. Greyish-green leaves are long and narrow. Flowers appear in summer, with seeds ripening in late summer and autumn
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Cynodon dactylon
Cynodon dactylon is a warm-season perennial grass with creeping stolons and rhizomes, forming a dense turf. Its leaves are narrow, flat, and green, turning brown in winter. The inflorescence consists of small spikelets arranged in a digitat
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Ceratonia siliqua
A Mediterranean evergreen shrubby tree with thick brown bark and dark green, leathery, pinnate leaves. Tiny green-tinted red flowers in racemes 2-6cm long, during spring, are followed by edible black-brown leathery pods containing a sweet p
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Kalanchoe daigremontiana
K. daigremontiana is an upright succulent perennial with trinagular-lance-shaped, grey-green leaves, often spotted with brown, and with a row of plantlets on each edge; pendent, tubular greyish pink flowers 2cm long open in winter
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Salvia officinalis
A bushy, spreading evergreen sub-shrub to 75cm tall, with very aromatic, finely veined, grey-green, oblong leaves to 6cm long and 2.5cm wide and short spikes of pale blue flowers in early summer. Fresh and dried leaves are used as a popular
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Daucus carota
The wild carrot is a tap-rooted biennial, its solid, ridged stems reaching 75cm in height. In summer it bears white umbels, tinged with pink in bud and sometimes in flower and the very central floret is dark red. Only this flower produces n
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