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Name:
Dittany of Crete
Botanical
Name:
Origanum dictamnus
Zone:
7-11
Soil:
Average, well drained.
Exposure:
Full Sun
Bloom
Color:
Pink flowers
Description:
Produces trailing pink flowers that resemble Hops flowers,
and it's leaves are round, fuzzy, silver-grey. Extremely oranamental.
It
is indigenous to Crete, Greece, where it symbolizes birth and love. Its local
name in Crete ("love") is due to the fact that it likes to grow in
very steep slopes on the rocky mountains of Crete. The young men used to show
their courage and their love to their beloved ones by risking their lives picking
it up and offering it to them.
It
was used in medicine in Ancient Greece for its pharmaceutical properties on
stomach aches and complaints of the digestive system. It is thought that wild
beasts used to eat it to help them heal themselves when injured by hunters.