Plant in a dry location in part sun to bright shady locations such as an understory for native oaks or grow out into full sun where it is a denser and stouter plant. Plant in a well-drained soil and water sparingly if at all in summer - if summer irrigated, the soil must drain well. It is hardy to about 25° F and was unharmed in our garden during the January 2007 freeze, with 3 nights down to 25°F. Trim out any stems that may occasionally die off (which happens even with healthy plants) or to shape. A great plant with attractive foliage and red fruit for areas that are unirrigated. It is not attractive to browsing animals and tolerates full sun to light shade and useful as an understory tall groundcover plant under oaks or even clipped formally as a small boxwood replacement.

Cneorum tricoccon grows naturally in the western Mediterranean region from the Balearic Islands in the west to southern coast of Spain, France, Italy and on Sardinia, where it typically grows on rocky, usually calcareous slopes. The genus was at once in its own family, the Cneoraceae, which were considered a relict shrub family that evolved under tropical conditions during the Cenozoic era, but later treatment included it in the rue or citrus family, the Rutaceae. The most current treatment has synonymized this plant with Euonymus nanus in the Celastraceae - talk about a plant with an identity complex! The name for the genus comes from a Greek name for a plant that resembles an olive and the specific epithet is a combination of the Latin words 'tri' meaning three and 'coccum' (from the Greek 'kokkos' meaning "grain" or "seed" in reference to the 3 seeded fruit. The common name is interesting since it is not a spurge, a name normally associated with plants in the genus Euphorbia, and while it has leaves that are somewhat similar to that of the true olive in the genus Olea, and also grows within native stands of them, it otherwise has no relationship or similarity to the olive plant. Spurge Olive was introduced into the US by Dr. Franceschi at his Santa Barbara Nursery in 1910 and has long been cultivated in the area. The original seed for our first crops we grew in 1998 were collected from an old established planting in Orpet Park on the Santa Barbara Riviera. 

The information about Cneorum tricoccon displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant.