Requires a good well-drained loamy soil in a sunny position or partial shade. Plants are quite frost-tender and only succeed outdoors in Britain in the mildest areas of the country. Some named forms have been developed for their ornamental value. The flowers emit the sweet scent of mignonette, this is most pronounced at eventide.

A gum is obtained from the plant and is used for chewing. It should not be swallowed, however, and in light of the warning on toxicity at the top of the page, perhaps it should not even be chewed.

Seed - we have no information on this species but the seed is probably best sown on the surface of a freely draining compost in the greenhouse as soon as it is ripe. Stored seed can be surface sown in the greenhouse in early spring. Do not allow the compost to dry out. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame. Cuttings of mature wood of the current season's growth, November in a frame. Very easy.

Coastal to montane forest and scrub.