BALLOTA ACETABULOSA

Family and Genus:- See- LABIATAE

Common Names:- Garden horehound

Homotypic Synonyms:- Beringeria acetabulosa, Marrubium acetabulosum,

Pseudodictamnus acetabulosus.

Meaning:- Ballota (Gr) A name used by the Greek physician and botanist

Dioscorides.

Acetabulosa (L) Saucer-shaped, saucer-like.

General description:- Perennial woody at the base.

Stems:-

1) Up to 60(-80) cm, greyish-tomentose, with simple and stellate hairs, papillae and

glands.

Leaves:-

1) Middle and upper cauline, 3-5 x 3-4 cm, broadly cordate at the base,

suborbicular, margins crenate-dentate.

2) Petiole, 5-15 mm.

Flowers:-

1) Bracteoles, 4-8 mm, linear to spathulate, membranous.

2) Verticillasters, 6- to 12-flowered.

3) Calyx, 12-15 mm, hypocrateriform; limb (12-)15-20 mm in diam, the margin

undulate, smooth or mucronulate.

4) Corolla, 15-18 mm, purple and white.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets, oblong, rounded at the apex.

Key features:-

1) Bracteoles, not pungent.

3) Verticillasters, 6- to 12-flowered.

4) Calyx-limb, (12-)15-20 mm diam, undulate or irregularly crenate, smooth or

mucronulate.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Gregarious constituent of open dry shrubby vegetation on rocky

limestone slopes, sometimes in ruderal habitats. 0-1000(-1700) m.

Distribution:- Endemic Aegean, Greece, W. Turkey & Libya. Localized in Crete,

known only from a few locations in the west, with a recent find (2014) near Males in

the Dikti mountains

Flowering time:- Apr to early July.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton