Stachys annua(L.) L. Annual Hedge-nettle

Stachys annua(L.) L. - Annual Hedge-nettle

Scientific Description:

Suffrutescent perennial, biennial or annual with or without basal sterile rosettes. Flowering stems usually procumbent, simple or branched, c. 8−50 cm. Stem densely or sparsely retrorse-pubescent, sometimes glabrous at base or throughout, rarely with patent glandular hairs throughout. Basal leaves ovate-oblong to ovate-lanceolate, 1−4.5 × 0.5−2.5 cm, crenate, cordate to attenuate at base, petiole 1−5 cm. Cauline leaves ovate-rhomboid, broadly lanceolate to oblanceolate, 1−3 × 0.5−1.5 cm, crenate-dentate, cuneate to attenuate at base, shortly petioled to subsessile, c. 1 cm. Floral leaves elliptic to linear-lanceolate, 1−2 × 0.5−0.8 cm, weakly crenate or entire, subsessile to sessile, as long as or slightly longer than verticillasters above. Leaf indumentum sparsely adpressed-pubescent, sometimes glabrescent with sessile glands. Verticillasters usually remote, 1.5−4 cm distant, few ± approximate above, 4−8-flowered. Bracteoles few, setaceous, 1−2 mm. Pedicels 1−1.5 mm. Calyx sub-bilabiate, subcampanulate to campanulate, 10−11 mm, ± gibbous at base in fruit; teeth triangular-subulate to lanceolate with 0.5−2 mm hairy spinulescent tip, 1/2−3/4 × calyx tube; calyx lips curved, tube densely villous to adpressed pubescent, sometimes glabrescent, with or without glandular hairs. Corolla creamy-yellow with red markings, 13−19 mm, tube exserted, saccate at base. Nutlets obovoid, 2 × 1.3 mm.

 

Flowering time: March−September.

Habitat: Dry igneous shady slopes, mixed forest, fallow fields, 90−2200 m.

 

Reference:

Bhattacharjee R (1982). Stachys annua (L.) L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 7: 248.

Public Description:

Stachys annua, known as “annual hedge-nettle”, is native to Southern Europe, Ukraine, Türkiye and Central Asia. It is a perennial, biennial or annual plant with cream-yellow with red markings flowers, and grows up to 50 cm in length. It blooms between March and September and is found in dry igneous shady slopes, mixed forest and fallow fields. It is used as antipyretic against common cold in Türkiye.

 

References:

Anonymous 1 (2016). http://botany.cz/en/stachys-annua/, Accessed date: 17.02.2016.

Anonymous 2 (2016). https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/genus/stachys/, Accessed date: 17.02.2016.

Renda G, Yazıcı Bektaş N, Korkmaz B, Çelik G, Sevgi S, Yaylı N (2017). Volatile Constituents of Three Stachys L. Species from Turkey. Marmara Pharmaceutical Journal 21/2: 278-285.

Akçiçek E (2012). Stachys L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 588–598.