Plants in Babil

Get to know 16 plants selected from Babil. Discover their scientific names, identifying features and growing needs.

Plants to discover

bread wheat

1. bread wheat

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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golden pothos

2. golden pothos

Epipremnum aureum

An evergreen self-clinging climber to 4m or more, with glossy bright green ovate leaves spotted and streaked with cream or yellow; green flowering spathes appear only rarely in cultivation

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fig

3. fig

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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Watermelon

4. Watermelon

Citrullus lanatus

Citrullus lanatus, commonly known as watermelon, is a vigorous annual vine with deeply lobed, rough-textured leaves and yellow, monoecious flowers. The fruit is a large, oblong to round berry with a hard green rind often striped or mottled,

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common myrtle

5. common myrtle

Myrtus communis

Upright, bushy evergreen shrub about 3m in height, with small, aromatic, glossy dark green leaves, and profuse white flowers 2cm in width with central tufts of white stamens in mid to late summer or autumn, followed by purplish-black berrie

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Chinese hibiscus

6. Chinese hibiscus

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis

A compact evergreen shrub with ovate to broadly lance-shaped glossy dark green leaves. Single 5-petalled flowers 10cm across with yellow anthered red stamens are produced from the leaf axils from summer to autumn, though in cultivation semi

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date palm

7. date palm

Phoenix dactylifera

A tall, tender palm with elegant, arching leaves composed of many linear, grey-green leaflets. In its native environments it produces 1-2m long flower spikes from the crown of the tree; these are followed by sweet, edible fruits (dates)

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pomegranate

8. pomegranate

Punica granatum

P. granatum is a rounded shrub with glossy, narrowly oblong leaves, bronze in spring, and funnel-shaped bright scarlet flowers 3-4cm across in summer, sometimes followed by spherical, reddish-brown fruits up to 12cm across

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Persian lilac

9. Persian lilac

Melia azedarach

A fast-growing, many-branched deciduous tree, to 15m tall in its native warm temperate India and China. The pinnnate leaves are composed of numerous glossy, ovate leaflets. In spring and early summer it produces a profusion of fragrant, pal

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oleander

10. oleander

Nerium oleander

N. oleander is an evergreen shrub with narrowly lance-shaped grey-green leaves and terminal clusters of salver-shaped, pink, white or red flowers 3-4cm across, in summer

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Bermuda Grass

11. Bermuda Grass

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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chaste tree

12. chaste tree

Vitex agnus-castus

A deciduous shrub, reaching up to 2.5m, with pleasingly aromatic foliage. This is a distinctive shape with 5-7 splayed leaflets. Upright panicles of fragrant, lavender flowers are borne in autumn

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Christmas cherry

13. Christmas cherry

Solanum pseudocapsicum

A small, upright, bushy, evergreen shrub to 30cm, usually grown as a winter-fruiting annual. Leaves are narrow, dark green and glossy, with wavy-edges. In summer, it produces small clusters of white, star-shaped flowers, followed by long-la

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sweet corn

14. sweet corn

Zea mays

Sweetcorn is relatively easy to grow and without a doubt tastes so much better that shop bought. There's a great range of varieties to grow, both heritage and modern, and something to suit most gardens and the shorter British summers. If y

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bloodflower

15. bloodflower

Asclepias curassavica

An upright evergreen sub-shrub with lance-shaped leaves and umbel-like terminal clusters of orange-red flowers 2cm across, in summer and autumn, sometimes followed by erect, ovoid fruit 6-8cm in length

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common caper

16. common caper

Capparis spinosa

A tender, sprawling, shrub to 1m tall, bearing round, grey-green leaves to 4cm across. In summer it produces flowers comprised of four white petals surrounding a tuft of white to pink stamens. The unopened flower buds are pickled or salted

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