Diosma
(from dios, divine, and osme, smell; well-bruised leaves have an exquisite smell). ORD. Rutaceae. A genus of about a dozen species of small greenhouse Heath-like shrubs, all natives of South Africa. Flowers white or reddish, terminal, sub-solitary or corymbose; calyx five-parted; petals sessile, obovate, longer than the calyx. Leaves alternate or opposite, linear-acute, channelled, serrulated or ciliate, gland-dotted. Diosmas may be very easily raised from cuttings, inserted in sandy peat, covered with a bell glass, and placed in very gentle heat. They will soon root, and may then be transferred singly into thumb pots, and afterwards, by successive stages, into larger ones. It will be desirable to keep the plants a little in shape by stopping the most vigorous branches, thus causing a lateral growth. Diosmas succeed in fibry peat and sand, and also in the same compost, with the addition of a little fibrous loam.
D. ericoides (Heath-like).* fl. white, with a tinge of red on the upper surface, small, terminal, two or three together. February to July. l. crowded, trigonal, blunt, smooth, dotted, emitting a strong penetrating smell when bruised. h. 1ft. to 3ft. 1756.
D. vulgaris (common). fl. white, tinged with blue; corymbs terminal, few-flowered. May. l. scattered, linear, pointed, long, smooth, glandular, spreading, fringed. h. 1ft. to 3ft. (B. M. 2332, under name of D. ericoides.) The other species are rarely seen in cultivation.