Lion's Tail

Rhizomes slightly woody, oblique. Stems erect, 30-60 cm tall, branched basally, branches retrorse appressed strigose. Petiole 1.5-2 cm; basal leaf blade circular, margin remotely dentate-serrate to subentire; stem leaf blades ovate, 2-5 × 1-3 cm, adaxially finely puberulent, abaxially densely appressed gray pubescent, base broadly cuneate, margin as that of basal blade, apex acute; lateral veins 3 or 4 pairs. Verticillasters ca. 1.5 cm in diam.; floral leaves sometimes sublanceolate; bracteoles spiny, slightly longer than calyx tube, spreading or curved upward, finely puberulent. Calyx tubular, 6-7 mm; tube ca. 5 mm, puberulent outside, glabrous inside; teeth triangular, ca. 2 mm, apex spinescent. Corolla 6-7 mm, tube ca. 5 mm, sparsely villous outside; limb pilose outside, glabrous inside; lower lip longer than adaxial, middle lobe obovate, lateral lobes ovate. Ovary black-brown, apex puberulent. Nutlets oblong, triquetrous, base cuneate, apex truncate, pubescent. Fl. Jun-Jul, fr. Jul-Aug.

Xinjiang [Kazakhstan, Russia; Europe].

Pastures, fallow land, riverbanks, streamsides, roadsides; 900 m.

Leonurus marrubiastrum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 584. 1753; Cardiaca leonuroides Willdenow; Cardiaca marrubiastrum (Linnaeus) Medikus.