4 December 2019
general
Rosemary: Salvia rosmarinus
At the recommendation of the RHS and Kew Gardens, we have updated the description of rosemary.
The change, adjusting the name from Rosmarinus officinalis to Salvia rosmarinus, reflects recent research which reveals rosemary to be a type of sage (salvia), rather than a separate plant type.
John David, Head of Horticultural Taxonomy at the RHS, quoted in the Telegraph: “rosemary is one of the most popular garden plants in the UK and gardeners may be surprised and interested to know that it is so closely related to the culinary sage (Salvia officinalis) that it is now put in the same genus, having been considered a different genus (Rosmarinus) for over 200 years."
This will apply to all references, such as our product list and will now show on all rosemary orders. If you would like to know more about this we have several sources explaining the research and the implications:
http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:457138-1
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/11/22/rosemary-not-rosemary-rules-rhs-sage-tell-gardeners-change/