Candituft Emress Alba Seeds

Candituft is a low-growing, spreading, annual herbacious plant which typically forms a foliage mound 0.5-1 ft tall and spreading to 1.5 ft wide. It is a popular garden plant, with numerous, narrow, obovate leaves which have 2 or 4 small teeth-like lobes. Small, pure white, 4-petaled, scentless flowers in dense, flattened clusters (corymbs) appear in a profuse, in winters and spring. Two of the four petals are longer than the other two. The blooms often totally obscures the foliage. There is another closely related plant, Perennial Candytuft (Iberis semperviren), which has linear to lance-shaped leaves which are not toothed or lobed.

• Flower: Corolla irregular (zygomorphic), white–light violet. Petals 4, of which 2 outermost long (6 mm (0.24 in.), and 2 innermost short (3 mm (0.12 in.)). Sepals 4. Stamens 6. Gynoeciem fused, a single carpel. Flowers fragrant, inflorescence initially dense and corymbose, becoming more sparse in fruiting stage.
• Leaves: Alternate, lowest soon withering, middle and upper leaves stalkless, narrowly obovate, sparse-toothed at tip (sometimes with short margins), margin sparsely hairy, 3-veined.
• Fruit: With 2 compartments, 2-seeded, round, flat, 4–6 mm (0.16–0.24 in.) long winged silicula. Wing widest at tip, tip notched with approx. 1 mm (0.04 in.) bristle. Stalk initially short, later at least as long as silicula. Seed flat, narrowly winged.
• Habitat: Yards, roadsides, wasteland, culturally-influenced land. Ornamental, occasionally wild.
• Flowering time: July–August.

Genus Iberis species are garden plants in Finland and can be found particularly in rockeries and to a certain extant as escapes from there. Among the most common escapes in the genus are wild candytuft and globe candytuft (I. umbellata). The name of the genus is a big hint that the plant originates from or is at least common on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). Wild candytuft’s species epithet amara (lat. amarus) refers to its bitter flavour.