# Cumberland Rosemary (Conradina verticillata)

> A federally threatened mint of Cumberland Plateau river bars, a low evergreen mat with rosemary-scented leaves and lavender-pink spring flowers.

Also called Cumberland false rosemary, Conradina montana. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/cumberland-rosemary/

![Cumberland rosemary (Conradina verticillata) pale lavender, purple-spotted flowers among needlelike leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/cumberland-rosemary-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Mason Brock, Public domain · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AConradina_verticillata_wild.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 1 to 2 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 9
- Grows wild in: Stream banks, rocky ground and sandy barrens
- Native range: Kentucky and Tennessee
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Average, Dry
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Rare, Showy flowers, Evergreen, Drought tolerant
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Cumberland rosemary is a low, aromatic evergreen of the mint family, found only on flood-scoured sand and cobble bars along a few rivers of the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee and Kentucky. Its needlelike leaves smell like the kitchen herb rosemary, and its two-lipped, lavender-pink flowers open in May and June. Spring floods keep taller plants off its gravel bars, and reservoirs behind dams have drowned some of its stands. It is listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Kentucky lists it as endangered and Tennessee as threatened. Grow it in full sun in a rock garden or on a sandy, gravelly bank, where nothing taller crowds it.

## Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, and the site carries no close relative, so our growth estimator uses its medium rate, about a foot and a half a year. It makes a low, spreading shrub 1 to 2 feet tall and as wide, often a mat of sprawling stems that root as they go. Its needlelike leaves, about three quarters of an inch long, are dark green above and pale beneath.

Two-lipped, lavender-pink flowers up to an inch long, spotted purple in the throat, open in May and June. Tiny nutlets ripen in June and July, and few of them hold a fully formed seed.

It grows wild only along the Big South Fork of the Cumberland, the Obed and the Caney Fork rivers on the Cumberland Plateau, in about 35 stands in Tennessee and southern Kentucky. Its home is sunny boulder, cobble and gravel bars, sand bars and islands, where spring floods keep taller plants away. Most stands hold fewer than 100 clumps.

## How to grow Cumberland Rosemary

Cumberland rosemary wants full sun and takes a little shade. It needs sharp drainage in a lean, slightly acid sand or gravel, and once established it takes drought. Taller plants that close in over it are its main foe, so keep it clear of them. Plant it 2 feet from a wall and set plants 2 feet apart. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant in early spring or early fall, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep any mulch clear of the stems. Its seed sprouts poorly, about 2 in 100 in laboratory tests, because few seeds hold a full embryo. Sow it on the surface of damp sand in good light, since buried or dark seed does not sprout. Most seedlings that appear do so within three weeks, and fungi kill many.

Water weekly through the first summer if rain is short, then let it ride out dry spells. Its low branches root where they touch the ground and spread into a mat. Old clumps can be short-lived.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, and bumblebees, honey bees and other large bees carry the pollen. Its own pollen sets far fewer good seeds than pollen from another plant. No serious insect or disease troubles it. Saplings are shipped only in state and otherwise pickup only.

## Sources

- [NatureServe Explorer: Conradina verticillata, Cumberland False Rosemary](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.148865/Conradina_verticillata)
- [US Fish and Wildlife Service, ECOS species report](https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/3677)
- [Roulston, T. H. 1994. Reproductive ecology of Conradina verticillata Jennison, a rare, endemic mint of the Cumberland Plateau](https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.51418)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Conradina verticillata](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/conradina-verticillata/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Conradina verticillata](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=COVE4)
- [Tennessee Natural Heritage Program: Rare Plant List 2025](https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/environment/natural-areas/documents/na_tn-rare-plant-list.pdf)
- [Office of Kentucky Nature Preserves: Kentucky Rare Plant List, September 30, 2022](https://eec.ky.gov/Nature-Preserves/biodiversity/Documents/2022%20Kentucky%20Rare%20Plant%20List%202.pdf)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for bees: pollen, nectar, nesting and a bloom calendar from willow to witch hazel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-bees/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Cumberland Rosemary, add ?species=cumberland-rosemary with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=cumberland-rosemary&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Cumberland Rosemary](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=cumberland-rosemary): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=cumberland-rosemary
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Cumberland Rosemary is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=cumberland-rosemary
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Cumberland Rosemary needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=cumberland-rosemary:2
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Cumberland Rosemary flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.