Plants That Smell Like Rosemary

Lavender

• Lavender (Lavendula) looks, grows and sometimes smells reminiscent of rosemary, its close relation. Like rosemary, it has a shrubby habit and is native to the Mediterranean. The two plants both have many narrow, aromatic leaves and many tiny flowers. Lavender flowers generally appear in spikes at the tops of the stalks, while rosemary blooms are in much smaller spikes on the ends of small, clustered branches. The similarity in fragrance depends on the species of lavender and rosemary. Both are pungent. Lavender's fragrance is a bit more sweet and perfume-like, while rosemary is sharper.

Russian Sage

• Another rosemary relative with a similar scent is Russian sage, or perovskia. It is also shrubby in habit, with deeply dissected, pinnate (feathery) leaves. Like rosemary and lavender, it has small, lipped flowers borne on the ends of branches. Rosemary can have either a prostrate or upright habit, but the most commonly grown perovskia species, Perovskia atriplicifolia, is an upright grower. The fragrance is very pronounced, with a disinfectant quality that is very reminiscent of rosemary. Russian sage is hardy in cold winter climates, a quality that rosemary lacks.

Camphor

• Camphor oil is used as a moth repellent, as well as for medicines and aromatherapy. It is distilled from Cinnamomum camphora, a tree that is a member of the laurel (Lauraceae) family. Some people detect camphor notes in the fragrance of rosemary, though the plants are not of the same family. The trees have glossy green, ovoid leaves and yellow-green flowers that appear in the leaf axils -- between the leaves and stems-- in spring.

Pine

• Sometimes rosemary is described as having a pine scent. Both rosemary and pine are used as fragrance agents in cleaning products as well as aromatherapy blends. Pine oil, the source of pine scent, is distilled from various pine species, including the American native longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) and the Scotch pine (Pinus sylvestris).