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Melianthaceae FAMILY

Melianthus minor

Melianthus minor

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
0/5

Safety & Hazards

The root is poisonous.

Cultivation Details

HabitEvergreen Shrub
GrowthMedium

Requires a well-drained moisture retentive soil in full sun or light shade[1]. Prefers a rich loamy soil[2]. Fertile soils give good foliage effects but the plant flowers better on a poor soil[1]. Closely related to M. major, but smaller in all parts[1]. A very ornamental plant it is only hardy in the milder areas of Britain[2], flowering freely in Cornwall[3]. In colder parts of the country it can be grown as a herbaceous perennial, dying down in winter but regrowing from the base in the spring[4, 1]. In these areas the rootstock must be well mulched[1]. The top growth is possibly hardy for short periods down to -10°c, whilst the rootstock is possibly hardy to -15°c if it is well mulched[5]. Plants are often used in sub-tropical bedding schemes[2]. Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer[6].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a warm greenhouse[7]. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots when they are large enough to handle. Grow on the seedlings for at least their first winter in a greenhouse and plant out in late spring or early summer after the last expected frosts[PFAF]. Cuttings of greenwood stem tips in a frame in summer[1]. Suckers in spring[1]. They can be planted out immediately or potted up and kept in a frame for their first winter. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Melianthus+minor>

Pollinators

Bees

References

  1. [1]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  2. [2]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  3. [3]Trees and Shrubs in Cornwall. — Thurston. ↩︎Trees and shrubs that succeed in Cornwall based on the authors own observations. Good but rather dated.
  4. [4]The Milder Garden. — Taylor. J. · Dent · 1990 ↩︎A good book on plants that you didn't know could be grown outdoors in Britain.
  5. [5]Perennials. Volumes 1 and 2. — Phillips. R. & Rix. M. · Pan Books · 1991 · ISBN 0-330-30936-9 ↩︎Photographs of over 3,000 species and cultivars of ornamental plants together with brief cultivation notes, details of habitat etc.
  6. [6]Perennial Garden Plants — Thomas. G. S. · J. M. Dent & Sons, London. · 1990 · ISBN 0 460 86048 8 ↩︎A concise guide to a wide range of perennials. Lots of cultivation guides, very little on plant uses.
  7. [7]The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers — Brickell. C. · Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. · 1990 · ISBN 0-86318-386-7 ↩︎Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.
  8. [8]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  9. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎