Common name: Black Horehound
Ballota nigra L. APNI*
Description: Perennial herb to 2 m high, tending to be 'woody' at base; branches moderately to densely hairy; hairs long, multicellular, spreading to retrorse.
Lower cauline leaves with lamina ovate or ovate-oblong, 3–8 cm long, 2–6 cm wide; base cordate to cuneate; petiole to 4 cm long.
Inflorescence usually with >12 flowers per leaf axil. Calyx 7–13 mm long, apically expanded, hairy; lobes 2–2.5 mm long, suberect, triangular to ovate, mucronate. Corolla 12–15 mm long, lilac to pink, rarely white.
Flowering: spring–summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Grows in disturbed sites along roadways, in clay soils; naturalized in the Mudgee district. Native of Eur.
NSW subdivisions: *CWS
Text by B. J. Conn Taxon concept:
N.S.W. occurrences are: subsp. foetida |
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