Salvia rosmarinus (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native to the Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was known by the scientific name Rosmarinus officinalis (), now a synonym. It is a member of the sage family Lamiaceae, which includes many other medicinal and culinary herbs. The name "rosemary" derives from Latin (). Rosemary has a fibrous root system. Description Rosemary is an aromatic evergreen shrub with leaves similar to hemlock needles. It is native to the Mediterranean and Asia, but is reasonably hardy in cool climates. Special cultivars like 'Arp' can withstand winter temperatures down to about . It can withstand droughts, surviving a severe lack of water for lengthy periods. In some parts of the world, it is considered a potentially invasive species. The seeds are often difficult to start, with a low germination rate and relatively slow growth, but the plant can live as long as 30 years. Forms range from upright to trailing; the upright forms can reach tall, rarely . The leaves are evergreen, long and broad, green above, and white below, with dense, short, woolly hair. The plant flowers in spring and summer in temperate climates, but the plants can be in constant bloom in warm climates; flowers are white, pink, purple or deep blue. Rosemary also has a tendency to flower outside its normal flowering season; it has been known to flower as late as early December, and as early as mid-February (in the northern hemisphere). Taxonomy Salvia rosmarinus is now considered one of many hundreds of species in the genus Salvia. Formerly it was placed in a much smaller genus, Rosmarinus, which contained only two to four species including R. officinalis, which is now considered a synonym of S. rosmarinus. The other species most often recognized is the closely related, Salvia jordanii (formerly Rosmarinus eriocalyx), of the Maghreb of Africa and Iberia. Both the original and current genus names of the species were applied by the 18th-century naturalist and founding taxonomist Carl Linnaeus. Elizabeth Kent noted in her Flora Domestica (1823), "The botanical name of this plant is compounded of two Latin words, signifying Sea-dew; and indeed Rosemary thrives best by the sea." History The first mention of rosemary is found on cuneiform stone tablets as early as 5000 BCE. After that not much is known, except that Egyptians