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Dictamnus albus L.

Dictamnus albus L., Sp. PI. ed. 1 (1753) 383; Hayek, Prodr. FI. Penins. Balc. I (1925) 589; Townsend, Fl. Eur. II (1968) 229; D. Fraxinella Pers., Syn. 1 (1805) 464; Boiss., Fl. Or. I (1867) 920 — Росен

Fam:   Rutaceae Juss.
Genus:  Dictamnus L.
Species: Dictamnus albus L.
English Name: Asburning bush, False dittany, White dittany, Gas plant and Fraxinella.
Description:

Perennial, root powerful stiff, 35 - 80 cm tall plants. Stems at the base woodened, straight, fibrous or bottom part bare. Leaves footed cirrus,  successively arranged, with short cruise just fibrous stems and axes; 3 - 6 pairs, 1.5 - 5.0 cm long, 0.5 - 2.5 cm wide, lance-shaped to ovate, pointed at the top, in jagged edge, mainly short fibrous veins, superficial punctate with dark glandule squatting, but only the top with a long stem. The blossoms in racemose inflorescence top; inflorescences axis short fiber, with multiple punctuate glandule. Bracts linear lance-shaped or lance, short fiber, with dark spotting glandule. Pedicels short fibrous and dense dark glandular. Sepals 5 - 6 mm long, lance-shaped, pointed or ovate lance, obtuse, covered with dark spotting glandule, naked or hairy, often colored as the corolla. Petals 10 - 25 mm long, elliptical-lance, at the base narrowed into a small nail, white- pink to blue-white,  with clear veins and dark punctate glands on the dorsal side. Stamens with long petioles, at the bottom part short fiber, to anthers densely glandular. The pedicle, with or without glandule. Box with wart surface, densely covered with dark glandule, short fiber. Seeds black, shiny, shining.

Volatility
var. albus. Sepals lance, pointed, hairy, dark glandule. Distributed within species boundaries.
var. macedonicus Borb., Term. Fuzetek XIX (1896) 352; Hayek, 1. c. Sepals ovate lance, usually blunt, almost naked, only with dark glandule on the surface or short ciliates on the edge. Distributed within species boundaries.

From „Флора на НР България, том VII, БАН, София, (1979)

Description[edit]
This plant grows about 60 cm (24 in) high. Its flowers form a loose pyramidal spike and vary in colour from pale purple to white. The flowers are five-petalled with long projectingstamens. The leaves resemble those of an ash tree.[2]
Volatile oils[edit]
In the summer months, the whole plant is covered with a kind of flammable substance, which is gluey to the touch, and has a very fragrant, lemony aroma; but if it takes fire, it goes off with a flash all over the plant. The name "burning bush" derives from the volatile oilsproduced by the plant, which can catch fire readily in hot weather, leading to comparisons with the burning bush of the Bible, including the suggestion that this is the plant involved there. The daughter of Swedish botanist 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.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Flowering Time: Blooms V-VII, fruitful VII-VIII.

References: „Флора на НР България, том VII, БАН, София, (1979)

Distribution in Bulgaria: Stony, herb and shrub areas. Black sea coast, northeastern Bulgaria, Danubian Plain, Fore Balkan Mountains, Sofia Region, ‘Знеполски” region, West Frontier mountains, Struma valley, Slavianka, Average forest Rhodopes, mountains, Thracian Lowland, Tundzha hilly plain, from sea level up to about 1200 m altitude. (Conspectus of the Bulgarian Vascular Flora) = conspectus&gs_l= Zlc.

Distribution: Central and Southern Europe and Asia.

Conservation status and threats:  not protected species in Bulgaria by theBiodiversity Law. Законодателство на Република България: Закон за биологичното разнообразие