Lobularia is a genus of four or five species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the family Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae

Brassicaceae, a medium sized and economically important family of flowering plants , are informally known as the mustards, mustard flowers, the crucifers or the cabbage family....

, closely related to (and formerly often included in) the genus Alyssum

Alyssum

Alyssum is a genus of about 100–170 species of flowering plants in the family Brassicaceae, native to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean region...

.

The genus is native to Macaronesia

Macaronesia

Macaronesia is a modern collective name for several groups of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean near Europe and North Africa belonging to three countries: Portugal, Spain, and Cape Verde...

 and the Mediterranean region, and comprises annual plant

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...

s growing to 10-40 cm tall, with oblong-oval leaves and white flowers.

Selected species

• Lobularia canariensis
• Lobularia libyca
• Lobularia intermedia (syn. L. canariensis subsp. intermedia)
• Lobularia marginata (syn. L. canariensis subsp. marginata)
• Lobularia maritima
  Lobularia maritima
  Lobularia maritima, common name Sweet Alyssum or Sweet Alison, also commonly referred to as just Alyssum from the genus in which it was formerly classified, is a low-growing flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae.-Etymology:...
  
  

Cultivation and uses

Lobularia maritima (Sweet Alyssum; syn. Alyssum maritimum) is a very popular garden

Garden

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...

 plant; it has become widely naturalised

Naturalisation (biology)

In biology, naturalisation is any process by which a non-native organism spreads into the wild and its reproduction is sufficient to maintain its population. Such populations are said to be naturalised....

throughout the temperate world.