Family: Asteraceae
Common name: Lavender cotton, Cotton lavender, Santolina, Gray Santolina
Lavender Cotton is a stunning little shrub with silver-grey leaves, and beautiful yellow flowers that can draw pollinators to your gardens.
Plant characteristics
These plants are short, growing to about 40-50 cm with a heavily branched stem covered with small, dissected, cotton ball-like leaves.
The leaves are silver-grey in color with a distinct aroma when they are disturbed or bruised. The leaves look like snow-flakes or clumps of corals because of their distinct shape, color, and growing habit.
During spring and summer, the Lavender cotton plant produces tall, button-shaped yellow flowers that bloom in tight clusters or thin, long stems.
The flowers are about 1.5-2 cm in diameter with densely packed disk florets, and no ray florets or petals. Following pollination, these flowers produce small, inconspicuous seedpods that are about 1 cm in length.
Gardening tips
Lavender cotton plants should be planted in areas with bright, direct sunlight and well-drained soil. They need very little watering and fertilization. Regular pruning can help the plant stay bushy and rounded.
The name Chamaecyparissus means ‘ground cypress’, but they are in no way related to the Cypress other than the dissected leaves. Nor are they related to cotton or lavender. It is just one of those names that have no connection to the characteristics of the plant.
Lavender cotton plants do well as short border plants, having a clear distinction in leaf shape and color from the surrounding plants.
Uses of Lavender Cotton
They are very effective as ground cover to prevent soil erosion on slopes because the plants will spread quickly forming large clumps, holding the soil together with their roots.
Lavender cottons plants can work as insect repellents in your garden keeping mosquitoes and insects away from outdoor seating areas.
These plants have some medicinal uses since it has analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and anti cancer properties.
It is used in the treatment of insect bites, wounds, inflammations, indigestion, bloating, stomach ailments, rheumatism, joint pains, liver diseases, and parasitic infections.
Leaves and flowers of the Lavender cotton are used in making sachets and potpourris. They are also used as insect repellents in drawers, closets, book shelves, and pet bedding. The leaves are used in flavoring dishes.
Propagation
Propagation is through seeds, stem cuttings, and root division.
Photographed at: GKVK College of Agriculture, Bangalore. Also KEW Botanical gardens, London
