# Dictamnus albus > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dictamnus_albus > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Dictamnus_albus.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictamnus_albus > Source revision: 1354922407 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Species of flowering plant Dictamnus albus Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae Clade: Embryophytes Clade: Tracheophytes Clade: Spermatophytes Clade: Angiosperms Clade: Eudicots Clade: Rosids Order: Sapindales Family: Rutaceae Genus: Dictamnus Species: D. albus Binomial name Dictamnus albus L. Synonyms[1] Synonyms list Dictamnus altaicus Fisch. ex Royle Dictamnus angustifolius G.Don ex Sweet Dictamnus caucasicus (Fisch. & C.A.Mey.) Fisch. ex Grossh. Dictamnus dasycarpus f. velutinus (Nakai) W.Lee Dictamnus fraxinella Link Dictamnus generalis E.H.L.Krause Dictamnus gymnostylis Steven Dictamnus himalayensis Royle Dictamnus hispanicus Webb ex Willk. Dictamnus macedonicus (Borbás) Pénzes Dictamnus microphyllus Schur Dictamnus obtusiflorus W.D.J.Koch Dictamnus odorus Salisb. Dictamnus sessilis Wallr. Dictamnus solitarius Stokes Dictamnus suffultus Wallr. Dictamnus tadshikorum Vved. Fraxinella alba (L.) Gaertn. Fraxinella dictamnus Moench ***Dictamnus albus*** is a [species](/source/Species) of [flowering plant](/source/Flowering_plant) in the [family](/source/Family_(taxonomy)) [Rutaceae](/source/Rutaceae). It is also known as **burning bush**,[2] **dittany**,[2] **gas plant**[2] or **fraxinella**.[2] This [herbaceous](/source/Herbaceous_plant) [perennial](/source/Perennial_plant) has several geographical variants.[3] It is [native](/source/Native_plant) to warm, open woodland habitats in southern Europe, north Africa and much of Asia. ## Description This plant grows about 40 cm (16 in) to 100 cm (39 in) high. Its [flowers](/source/Flower) form a loose pyramidal spike and vary in colour from pale purple to white. The flowers are five-petalled with long projecting [stamens](/source/Stamens). The leaves resemble those of an ash tree.[3] ## Cultivation Several [varieties](/source/Variety_(botany)) and [cultivars](/source/Cultivars) have been selected for garden use. The variety *D. albus* var. *purpureus* in which the violet-purple is confined to veining of white petals with a slight blush, has gained the [Royal Horticultural Society](/source/Royal_Horticultural_Society)'s [Award of Garden Merit](/source/Award_of_Garden_Merit).[4][5] *Dictamnus* is tap-rooted, making mature plants difficult to establish and resistant to division; young plants often need three years before they begin to flower, and since it is late to break into leaf in spring, even quite mature clumps may be harmed with vigorous soil-working in spring. For all these reasons, added to toxicity of the foliage, *Dictamnus* is rarely seen in American gardens.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*] ## Toxicity The leaves have a [bitter](/source/Bitter_(taste)) and unpalatable taste. Despite the lemon-like smell, the plant is acrid when eaten. All parts of the plant may cause mild stomach upset if eaten, and contact with the foliage may cause [phytophotodermatitis](/source/Phytophotodermatitis).[3] ## Volatile oils The name "burning bush" derives from the [volatile oils](/source/Essential_oil) produced by the plant, which can catch fire readily in hot weather,[6] leading to comparisons with the [burning bush](/source/Burning_bush) of the [Bible](/source/Bible), including the suggestion that this is the plant involved there. The daughter of Swedish [botanist](/source/Botanist) [Carl Linnaeus](/source/Carl_Linnaeus) is said to have ignited the air once, at the end of a particularly hot, windless summer day, above *Dictamnus* plants, using a simple matchstick. The volatile oils have a reputed component of [isoprene](/source/Isoprene). ## Chemistry More than 100 chemical constituents have been isolated from the genus *Dictamnus*, including [alkaloids](/source/Alkaloid), [limonoid](/source/Limonoid) [triterpenoids](/source/Triterpenoid), [flavonoids](/source/Flavonoid), [sesquiterpenoids](/source/Sesquiterpenoid), [coumarins](/source/Coumarin), and [Phenylpropanoids](/source/Phenylpropanoid).[7] ## Gallery - Illustration from *Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz* 1885 - Fruit ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-POWO_772356-1_1-0)** ["*Dictamnus albus* L."](https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:772356-1). *Plants of the World Online*. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2021-09-21. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-GRIN_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-GRIN_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-GRIN_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-GRIN_2-3) ["*Dictamnus albus*"](https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=13928). *[Germplasm Resources Information Network](/source/Germplasm_Resources_Information_Network)*. [Agricultural Research Service](/source/Agricultural_Research_Service), [United States Department of Agriculture](/source/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture). Retrieved 24 June 2015. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-RHSAZ_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-RHSAZ_3-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-RHSAZ_3-2) *RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants*. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1405332965](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1405332965). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["*Dictamnus albus* var. *purpureus*"](http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=655). Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved 24 July 2013.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["AGM Plants - Ornamental"](https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf) (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 29. Retrieved 6 February 2018. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Dictamnus albus - Plant Finder"](http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=286761). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Gao X.; Zhao P.-H.; Hu J.-F. (2011). ["Chemical constituents of plants from the genus *Dictamnus*"](https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fcbdv.201000132). *Chemistry and Biodiversity*. **8** (7): 1234–1244. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1002/cbdv.201000132](https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fcbdv.201000132). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [21766445](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21766445). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [46187608](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:46187608). ## External links - [Growing a Burning Bush, Dictamnus albus, in your Garden](http://www.thegardenhelper.com/Dictamnus.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20130219052407/http://www.thegardenhelper.com/dictamnus.htm) 2013-02-19 at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) - [Dictamnus - Gas Plant, Burning Bush, Perennials Guide to Planting Flowers](http://www.backyardgardener.com/pren/pg43.html) - [Video - Burning bush on fire](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQTZyS7BKV8) Taxon identifiers Dictamnus albus Wikidata: Q157755 Wikispecies: Dictamnus albus BioLib: 3596 BOLD: 437841 CoL: 6D65J Ecocrop: 5310 EoL: 487939 EPPO: DCMAL EUNIS: 181688 FNA: 220004067 GBIF: 5421338 GRIN: 13928 iNaturalist: 161875 IPNI: 772356-1 IRMNG: 10211414 ITIS: 502054 MichiganFlora: 2607 MoBotPF: 286761 NatureServe: 2.160943 NCBI: 298346 Observation.org: 104685 Open Tree of Life: 568898 PalDat: Dictamnus_albus PFI: 2993 Plant List: kew-2766952 PLANTS: DIAL4 POWO: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:772356-1 RHS: 5799 Tropicos: 28101287 WFO: wfo-0000646276 --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Dictamnus albus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictamnus_albus) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dictamnus_albus?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.