Ballota frutescens (L.) Woods

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Ballota frutescens' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/ballota/ballota-frutescens/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Genus

Common Names

  • Shrubby Horehound

Synonyms

  • Molucella frutescens L.
  • B. spinosa Link

Other taxa in genus

    Glossary

    calyx
    (pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
    corolla
    The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
    apex
    (pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
    calyx
    (pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
    corolla
    The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
    ovate
    Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.

    References

    There are no active references in this article.

    Credits

    Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

    Recommended citation
    'Ballota frutescens' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/ballota/ballota-frutescens/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

    A shrub 6 to 12 in. high of rounded bushy habit; young shoots very slender, downy, armed at each joint with a pair of slender, pale, mostly twin spines 14 to 12 in. long. Leaves opposite, ovate, three- to nine-lobed or sometimes merely toothed, rounded or tapered at the base, pointed to rounded at the apex; 12 to 1 in. long, scarcely as wide; dull green, downy on both surfaces; stalk slender, 18 to 12 in. long. Flowers very shortly stalked, produced singly, in pairs, or in threes in the leaf-axils. Calyx narrowly funnel-shaped, 13 in. long, ten-ribbed, downy, spreading at the mouth into five ovate slender-pointed lobes. Corolla white, two-lipped, the lower lip three-lobed, the upper lip densely covered with long white hairs. The whole flower is about 58 in. long and about 12 in. across the calyx-lobes, which stand out beyond the corolla. It blossoms in July and August.

    Native of France in the Basses Alpes and Alpes Maritimes, also of Italy; related to our native ‘black horehound’ (B. nigra). It is a long time since it was first cultivated in this country and Gerard seems to have grown it in his physic garden at Holborn in 1596. Its tenure, however, has always been uncertain and intermittent owing to its tenderness and lack of notable beauty. Its flowers, with the brush-like tuft of hairs on the corolla, are curious and interesting. It can only be grown in the warmer parts of the country and in the sunniest, sheltered spots.