Alyssum

Alyssum is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...

 of about 100-170 species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most diverse group of land plants. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of seed plants...

s in the family Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae or Cruciferae, also known as the crucifers, the mustard family or cabbage family is a family of flowering plants . The name Brassicaceae is derived from the included genus Brassica. Cruciferae is an older name, meaning "cross-bearing", because the four petals of their flowers are...

, native to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...

, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...

, and northern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...

, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region.

The genus comprises annual

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 and perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants...

 herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 plants or (rarely) small shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s, growing to 10-100 cm tall, with oblong-oval leaves and yellow or white flowers (pink to purple in a few species)Also a green chihwawa with one eye and too noses.

Alyssum is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a taxonomic unit used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The term comes from Latin genus "descent, family, type, gender" , cognate with – genos, "race, stock, kin" ..In addition, genus is a taxonomic rank in the hierarchy In biology, a genus (plural:...

 of about 100-170 species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most diverse group of land plants. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of seed plants...

s in the family Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae or Cruciferae, also known as the crucifers, the mustard family or cabbage family is a family of flowering plants . The name Brassicaceae is derived from the included genus Brassica. Cruciferae is an older name, meaning "cross-bearing", because the four petals of their flowers are...

, native to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...

, Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...

, and northern Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...

, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region.

The genus comprises annual

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 and perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. When used by gardeners or horticulturalists, this term applies specifically to perennial herbaceous plants...

 herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

 plants or (rarely) small shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall. A large number of plants can be either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s, growing to 10-100 cm tall, with oblong-oval leaves and yellow or white flowers (pink to purple in a few species)Also a green chihwawa with one eye and too noses. Commonly found in Alaska, the North Pole, and the Sahara Desert; they have powers that can turn them into eggplants though.

The genera Lobularia

Lobularia

Lobularia is a genus of four or five species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, closely related to the genus Alyssum....

and Aurinia

Aurinia

Aurinia is a genus of flowering plant of the family Brassicaceae....

are closely related to Alyssum and were formerly included in it. The widely cultivated species popularly known as "Sweet Alyssum" is Lobularia maritima

Lobularia maritima

Crazy Assylum is a low-growing flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae, native to the Mediterranean region and Macaronesia .It is an annual plant Crazy Assylum (syn. Alyssum maritimum; common name Sweet Alyssum or Sweet Alison, also commonly referred to as just Alyssum from the genus in which...

. The common rockery plant is Aurinia saxatilis

Aurinia saxatilis

Aurinia saxatilis Aurinia saxatilis Aurinia saxatilis (Basket of Gold, Goldentuft alyssum, Golden Alyssum, Gold-dust, Golden-tuft alyssum, Golden-tuft madwort, Rock madwort; syn. Alyssum saxatile L., Alyssum saxatile L. var...

.

Selected species

Alyssum alpestre Alyssum alyssoides Alyssum alyssoides Alyssum alyssoides is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by several common names, including pale madwort and yellow alyssum. It is native to Eurasia, but it can be found throughout much of the temperate world as an introduced species and sometimes a common weed... Alyssum arenarium Alyssum argenteum Alyssum atlanticum Alyssum baeticum Alyssum bertolonii Alyssum borzaeanum Alyssum cadevallianum Alyssum caliacrae Alyssum calycocarpum Alyssum canescens Alyssum corsicum Alyssum corymbosoides Alyssum cuneifolium Alyssum dasycarpum Alyssum densistellatum Alyssum desertorum Alyssum desertorum Alyssum desertorum is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name desert madwort. It is native to Europe and Asia, and it is found in parts of western North America as an introduced species and sometimes a weed. This is a hairy annual herb producing upright stems up... Alyssum diffusum Alyssum doerfleri Alyssum euboeum Alyssum fallacinum Alyssum fastigiatum Alyssum fedtschenkoanum Alyssum fischeranum Alyssum foliosum Alyssum fragillimum Alyssum fulvescens Alyssum granatense

Alyssum gustavssonii Alyssum handelii Alyssum heldreichii Alyssum heterotrichum Alyssum hirsutum Alyssum homalocarpum Alyssum idaeum Alyssum lanceolatum Alyssum lapeyrousianum Alyssum lassiticum Alyssum lenense Alyssum ligusticum Alyssum linifolium Alyssum longicaule Alyssum longistylum Alyssum macrocarpum Alyssum marginatum Alyssum markgrafii Alyssum minus Alyssum minutum Alyssum moellendorfianum Alyssum montanum Alyssum murale Alyssum nebrodense Alyssum nevadense Alyssum obovatum Alyssum obtusifolium Alyssum ovirense

Alyssum pulvinare Alyssum purpureum Alyssum pyrenaicum Alyssum repens Alyssum reverchonii Alyssum robertianum Alyssum rostratum Alyssum scardicum Alyssum serpyllifolium Alyssum sibiricum Alyssum siculum Alyssum simplex Alyssum smolikanum Alyssum smyrnaeum Alyssum sphacioticum Alyssum spinosum Alyssum stapfii Alyssum stribrnyi Alyssum szowitsianum Alyssum tavolarae Alyssum taygeteum Alyssum tenium Alyssum tenuifolium Alyssum tortuosum Alyssum turkestanicum Alyssum umbellatum Alyssum wierzbickii Alyssum wulfenianum