Sideritis Syriaca

This tough, drought and heat-tolerant plant is native to the mountains surrounding the Mediterranean sea, especially the Peloponnese. It forms an attractive-looking, low, dense mound of slim, fragrant, greyish foliage, covered in white fuzz, daring you to touch it, and bearing in mid summer, pretty, upright stems of small, light yellow flowers in fascinating interrupted clusters. It is used in Greece for colds, respiratory health maintenance, digestion, frayed nerves and the immune system and it is apparently anti-oxidant too! This could be one of the most significant Mediterranean herbs since rosemary. It will do best with hot, dry summers, preferring full sun and very fast draining soil, but is drought tolerant once established, or even life in a large pot! It makes a soothing tea with salubrious medicinal applications, often being used for treating colds and restless insomnia.