Ballota nigra | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Lamiaceae |
Genus: | Ballota |
Species: | B. nigra |
Binomial name | |
Ballota nigra | |
Range of Ballota nigra | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Ballota nigra, black horehound, is a perennial herb of the family Lamiaceae. It is native to the Mediterranean region and to central Asia and it can be found throughout Europe. It is also naturalized in Argentina, New Zealand, and the Eastern United States. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] It blooms in the Northern Hemisphere from May to August.
Ballota nigra has a very strong characteristic smell reminiscent of mold or humidity, and can be recognized by its clusters of hairy, reddish-purple flowers. It can grow up to 3 feet in height.
It has herbaceous ascending stems, wooden and branched at bottom, covered by down folded hairs. The plant has a taproot system.
Leaves are opposite and decussate, and range from oval-lanceolate to heart-shaped, with crenate or dentate border. Leaves, dark green and usually pubescent, measure 3–8 cm per 2–6 cm, and have 1–3 cm petiole. Upper face is wrinkled, with a net-like vein pattern.
Flowers are organized in verticillasters, subspherical to about one-sided, with 15 to 30 flowers. Each verticillaster consist of two condensed dichasial cymes at axils of normal leaves.
Flower has an actinomorphic calyx (length 9–10 mm, width 7 mm), made up by five sepals fused together in a tube with five teeths; and a labiate corolla of 12–13 mm, ranging from pink to pale purple to withish. The corolla consist of a tube of about 6 mm and two lips; the upper one slightly concave (like a hood) and externally hairy; the lower one glabrous, with two minor lateral lobes and a major central bifid lobe. There are four didynamous stamens, running parallel under the upper lip, with glabrous filaments and yellow anthers. Ovary is superior, with a single white style and a 2-parted stigma.
Below the calyx there are five filiform bracts, 8 mm long.
Each fertilized flower produces a tetrad of black nutlets, cylindrical to ovoid, 2 mm long, partially or fully covered by the calyx. The basal end is flat and attached to the receptacle, while the top end is rounded or pointed.
Ballota nigra contains diterpenoids like marrubiin, ballonigrin, ballotinone, ballotenol and 7-acetoxymarrubiin. Also, it contains phenylpropanoids.[ citation needed ]
The plant was described by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum (May 1753). The name Ballota comes from the Greek ballo (to reject), because of the strong offensive odor of the plant; cattle will not eat it. The specific name nigra could refer to the black colour of dried leaves.
The common name comes from the Old English words har, meaning "downy or hoary", and hune, meaning the plant itself. This name refers to the hairs that give the herb its distinctive appearance. In modern times, alternative medicine practitioners have referred to the plant as "seed of Horus" [6] and suggested that horehound takes its name from Horus, the Egyptian sun god.
Ballota nigra is a nitrophilous plant; it grows in ruins, fallows, and hedges at elevations up to 1300 m. It prefers loose, calcareous (alkaline) soils. It tolerates temperatures as low as -5°/-10 °C.
Usually the plant is used dry and harvested when blooming. Syrups can be made from fresh plants.
Recognized subspecies: [1]
Lycopus europaeus, common names gypsywort, gipsywort, bugleweed, European bugleweed and water horehound, is a perennial plant in the genus Lycopus, native to Europe and Asia, and naturalized elsewhere. Another species, Lycopus americanus has also been erroneously called L. europaeus.
Ballota (horehound) is a genus of flowering evergreen perennial plants and subshrubs in the family Lamiaceae. native to temperate regions. The Mediterranean region has the highest diversity in the genus, with more isolated locations in South Africa, Central Asia, northern Europe, and the islands of the eastern North Atlantic. It is found in rocky and waste ground.
Stachys byzantina, the lamb's-ear or woolly hedgenettle, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to Armenia, Iran, and Turkey. It is cultivated over much of the temperate world as an ornamental plant, and is naturalised in some locations as an escapee from gardens. Plants are very often found under the synonym Stachys lanata or Stachys olympica.
Leonurus sibiricus, commonly called honeyweed or Siberian motherwort, is an herbaceous plant species native to China, Mongolia, and Siberia. It has verticillaster inflorescence. It is naturalized in many other parts of the world, including South, Central and North Americas.
Echinacea atrorubens, called the Topeka purple coneflower, is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, and eastern Texas in the south-central United States. It is found growing in dry soils around limestone or sandstone outcroppings and prairies.
Stemodia durantifolia is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family commonly known as the whitewoolly twintip and purple stemodia. Stemodia durantifolia is native to the Americas, including Chile, Mexico, Texas, and the deserts of California and Arizona, and is often found in riparian habitats, preferring wet sand and rocks. It is a perennial herb producing a hairy, glandular, erect stem 10–100 cm (3.9–39.4 in) tall, with the toothed lance-shaped leaves found in pairs or triplets, attached to the stem with clasping bases. The inflorescence is a raceme of violet flowers, with each corolla held in a calyx of hairy, pointed sepals, and can often be found in bloom year-round. Although globally at low risk of extinction, Stemodia durantifolia is imperiled in California due to its rarity and threats from development.
Leucas aspera is a plant species within the genus Leucas and the family Lamiaceae. Although the species has many different common names depending on the region in which it is located, it is most commonly known as Thumbai or Thumba. Found throughout India, it is known for its various uses in the fields of medicine and agriculture.
Acanthopale pubescens is a species of the genus Acanthopale of the family Acanthaceae. The species occurs in East and Southern Africa. Acanthopale pubescensis also known as Herayye in Ethiopia.
Karomia speciosa is an African deciduous large shrub or bushy tree up to 7 m, and relocated to the family Lamiaceae from Verbenaceae. It is one of 9 species in the genus Karomia, a genus containing species previously classified in Holmskioldia, and is closely related to Clerodendrum. The only remaining species in the genus is Holmskioldia sanguinea, occurring in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Clinopodium troodi, the Troödos rock thyme, is a perennial spawling herb with a woody rootstock and reddish-green 5–20 cm long hairy shoots. Leaves opposite, simple, obscurely dentate, broadly ovate, 2-7 x 2–8 mm, petiolate, thinly hairy. Flowers in congested verticillasters, corolla bifid, pink or purple, much longer than calyx, flowers June–August, fruit of 4 nutlets.
Astrantia major, the great masterwort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to central and eastern Europe. Growing up to 90 cm (35 in) tall by 45 cm (18 in) broad, it is an herbaceous perennial, much used in gardens.
Acacia burkittii is a species of wattle endemic to Western Australia, South Australia and western New South Wales, where it is found in arid zones, and is a perennial shrub in the family Fabaceae. Common names for it include Burkitt's wattle, fine leaf jam, gunderbluey, pin bush and sandhill wattle. It has also been introduced into India. Previously this species was referred to as Acacia acuminata subsp. burkittii, but is now considered to be a separate species. Grows in mallee, eucalypt and mulga woodland or shrubland, often on sandhills.
Hymenodictyon parvifolium Oliv. is a small rubiaceous African tree and is one of some 24 species in the genus, with a tropical African and Asian distribution. This species grows as a small tree to some 5 metres tall, or sometimes a liane or scrambler to 10.5 m, and is found in low-altitude woodland.
Veronica calycina, commonly known as hairy speedwell or cup speedwell, is a flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. It is a trailing perennial with dark green leaves, purple-blue flowers and is endemic to Australia.
Pseudodictamnus undulatus, commonly known as common ballota or horehound, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to the Mediterranean region including Egypt, Israel and Jordan. It is a compact, evergreen subshrub with a woody base, many hairy wiry stems, simple opposite leaves with toothed margins, and whorls of white flowers with funnel-shaped calyxes.
Scaevola basedowii is an erect multi-stemmed shrub in the family Goodeniaceae, endemic to Western Australia, the Northern Territory and South Australia.
Clinopodium menthifolium, commonly known as the wood calamint or woodland calamint, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is found throughout southern and central Europe from the United Kingdom and east as far as temperate parts of Asia, and as south as North Africa. It grows up to 1,700 m (5,600 ft) in elevation.
Plectranthus purpuratus or cliff spurflower is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to South Africa's Kwazulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces, as well as eSwatini. The name is frequently misapplied to Plectranthus ciliatus, presumably because both have purple-backed leaves.
Veronica catenata, the pink water speedwell, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. It is native to Canada, the United States, Europe, the Azores, and northern Africa. As its common name implies, it prefers growing in or near marshes, rivers, lakes and ponds.
Stachys stebbinsii is a species of perennial herb in the mint family commonly known as Stebbins' hedgenettle. This plant is characterized by a musky aroma, flowers with large lower lips, and glandular hairs that densely cover the stems. S. stebbinsii is native to California and northwestern Baja California. It is usually found growing in moist places in a wide variety of habitats including disturbed areas, chaparral, coastal sage scrub and mountains.