Romerillo (Helianthemum syriacum)

The plant known by the scientific name Helianthemum syriacum is one of the most common in the Mediterranean. Small, with leaves that do not stand out much, but with some flowers of a color that attracts a lot of attention.

Precisely for this reason, for the beauty of its petals, and for being an herb (and therefore very easy to care for), we are going to introduce it to you .

Origin and characteristics

Image – Wikimedia/ Ghislain118

Our protagonist is a small perennial herbaceous bush, about 30-40cm tall, with stems that are covered by very short hairs, popularly known as romerillo, healthy grass, jagz, rosemary jarilla, field tea, mountain tea or bush turnera.

The leaves are opposite, with thick green petioles. The flowers are grouped in terminal inflorescences, and are composed of 5 sepals, 5 petals, a large number of stamens and a pistil with a long style. The fruit is a 3-4mm capsule, ovoid-trigone or ellipsoidal in shape, and contains 3-6 seeds of about 1.5mm. It blooms and bears fruit in spring-summer.

What is your Helianthemum syriacum care ?

Image – Wikimedia/ Hans Hillewaert

If you want to grow this beautiful plant in your garden or in a pot, we recommend that you keep the following in mind:

Location: it must be outside, in full sun.
Land:
- Garden: grows in limestone soils.
- Pot: use substrates with a neutral or slightly high pH (7), such as the universal substrate sold in any nursery and garden store, as well as here.
Watering: 4-5 times a week in summer, and every 3-4 days the rest of the year. It is necessary to ensure that the earth does not dry out completely, but also the waterlogging.
Subscriber: with natural fertilizers. If egg and/ or banana shells are usually thrown in the trash, among other things that you can see in this link, it will be better to throw it on the plant .
Multiplication: by seeds in spring-summer.
Rusticity: it resists weak frosts down to -6ºC.