FoodFood InformationHerbs&Spice
DITTANY OF CRETE (Amaracus dictamnus)
With its soft, round, downy leaves and minutely detailed flowers, dittanyis a highly ornamental plant. Its slender, arching stems, each about a footlong, have opposite pairs of thick rounded leaves that look somewhat likebeads on a string. Leaves are only 1/2-3/4 inch long and are covered witha white, woolly hair. The tiny, rather inconspicuous flowers are pink topurplish in color and grow at the ends of the stems from summer throughfall. The hop like flower bracts hold on for a long time in the fall andare the most ornamental part.
Dittany used to be very highly regarded as a cure for wounds. Venus wassupposed to have given the plant to Aeneas during the Trojan Wars to curehis soldiers, and afterwards people said that it was able to remove ironand splinters from any wound and cure it immediately.
Full sun, ordinary well drained garden soil, and routine watering are satisfactoryfor dittany. It can be propagated from seeds, cuttings, or root division.This is an especially attractive plant for hanging containers where it willdrape over the sides. It must be brought indoors during cold winters.
As a culinary herb, dittany can be used in most of the same foods as marjoramand oregano.