Lycopus americanus (Water-Horehound) - photos and description

 


15 cm ruler for scale

 

 

General: Perennial with an erect growth habit and leafy stems. Stems square and reddish coloured below. Plants glabrous, rhizomatous.

Flowers: Small white flowers grow in dense clusters in leaf axils. The flowers with reddish-purple spots, flowers tubular, 2 mm diameter. Flowers appear in early July.

Leaves: Leaves are opposite, lanceolate, with short stalks and deeply incised. We measured a leaf at 5.5 cm long and 2.5 cm wide.

Height: Height is listed in Budd's Flora from 30 to 80 cm, plant in above photo was 28 cm tall.

Habitat: Stream banks, swamps, and other wet areas.

Abundance: Common.

Origin: Native.

When and where photographed: The above photos were taken July 1st, wet prairie meadow, 70 km south east of our home in Regina, SK.