Kew accepts Salvia rosmarinus. The older name Rosmarinus officinalis is a synonym on Kew and still the accepted name on USDA GRIN — same plant, two labels.
How it was found
Kew maps Salvia rosmarinus as Mediterranean. The native list names Albania, Algeria, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Libya, Morocco, the northwest Balkan Peninsula, Portugal, Sardinia, Sicily, Spain, Tunisia, and Türkiye. Introduced places on that page include the Azores, Bermuda, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Crete, Crimea, Lebanon-Syria, Madeira, parts of Mexico, Texas, and Trinidad-Tobago.
USDA GRIN, under the accepted name Rosmarinus officinalis, lists a similar Mediterranean native range and treats the Canary Islands and Madeira as native. Kew lists those islands as introduced. Those two lists are not collapsed here.
No fetched page printed a first-cultivation date or a single domestication center. Native range is Mediterranean (Kew; UC Master Gardeners). UCCE Riverside writes that rosemary has been used since the time of the early Greeks and Romans, and that in the ninth century Charlemagne insisted the herb be grown in his royal gardens.
How people used it
Kew lists food, and also animal food and invertebrate food. UCCE Riverside treats rosemary as a culinary herb: leaves fresh and dried in traditional Mediterranean cuisine — stuffing, roast lamb, pork, poultry, fish, and vegetables. UCCE El Dorado likewise: leaves widely used for seasoning.
Kew lists the species as a medicine without naming a remedy. GRIN lists folklore medicines under R. officinalis; those details are not copied. A Riverside fact sheet repeats a Greek examination-garland memory story citing Kids.Kiddle / Herb Society — skipped here as unverified folk medicine.
Timeline
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Early Greeks and Romans (as printed)
Already in the kitchen
UCCE Riverside Master Gardeners write that rosemary has been used since the time of the early Greeks and Romans. That is the oldest use wording on this page. It is not a first-domestication country, and Kew prints a Mediterranean native range rather than a crop-origin date.
UCCE Riverside rosemary fact sheet
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Ninth century
Charlemagne’s gardens
UCCE Riverside Master Gardeners write that in the ninth century, Charlemagne insisted that the herb be grown in his royal gardens. That is why rosemary shows up as a court plant, not only a seaside wild shrub.
UCCE Riverside rosemary fact sheet
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1753
The older name
Kew lists Rosmarinus officinalis L. in Species Plantarum: 23 (1753) as a homotypic synonym of Salvia rosmarinus. USDA GRIN still treats Rosmarinus officinalis L. as the accepted name and Salvia rosmarinus as a synonym/replacement name. Same plant; the labels disagree.
Kew POWO; USDA GRIN
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1835
Kew’s accepted name
Kew accepts Salvia rosmarinus Spenn., first published in Handb. Angew. Bot. 2: 447 (1835). GRIN calls that a replacement name (nom. nov.) for Rosmarinus officinalis L. (1753), because Salvia officinalis L. (1753) already used the epithet officinalis. Culinary sage keeps S. officinalis; rosemary moved.
Kew POWO; USDA GRIN
Cool to know
Kew accepts Salvia rosmarinus; Rosmarinus officinalis is a homotypic synonym. UCCE Riverside writes that the plant used to be called Rosmarinus officinalis but will now be called Salvia rosmarinus after research showed it is a salvia. USDA GRIN still accepts R. officinalis. This page names both.
Kew POWO; UCCE Riverside; USDA GRIN
The older genus name Rosmarinus is from Latin ros + marinus, “dew of the sea,” reflecting a native seaside Mediterranean habitat. UCCE Riverside and UCCE El Dorado both print that etymology.
UCCE Riverside; UCCE El Dorado
UCCE El Dorado Master Gardeners write of a native habitat on seaside cliffs in the Mediterranean region, with leaves widely used for seasoning. That is why the plant reads as a coastal shrub, not a tropical annual.
UCCE El Dorado — Rosemary “Dew of the Sea”
Growing notes for this plant live on the Plant Wiki. This page is origin and use, not a How-To.
Want rosemary in a San Diego bed? See the easy-herbs guide for keeping Mediterranean herbs going here. Get a quote or write yourgardenofgold@gmail.com.