''Marrubium vulgare'' (white horehound or common horehound) is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

in the mint family (

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

), native to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, northern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and southwestern and central

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. It is also widely naturalized in many places, including most of

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

. It is a grey-leaved

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition o ...

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

, and grows to tall. The leaves are long with a densely crinkled surface, and are covered in downy hairs. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanis ...

s are white, borne in clusters on the upper part of the main stem.

Etymology

The

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a c ...

derives the word ''horehound'' from Old English ''hoar'' ("white," "light-colored," as in " hoarfrost") and ''hune'' (a word of unknown origin designating a class of

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicina ...

s or plants). The second element was altered by

folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

Uses

Folk medicine

Horehound has been mentioned in conjunction with use as a

folk medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...

dating at least back to the 1st century BC, where it appeared as a remedy for respiratory ailments in the

treatise A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions." Tre ...

De Medicina ''De Medicina'' is a 1st-century medical treatise by Aulus Cornelius Celsus, a Roman encyclopedist and possibly (but not likely) a practicing physician. It is the only surviving section of a much larger encyclopedia; only small parts still survi ...

'' by Roman encyclopaedist

Aulus Cornelius Celsus Aulus Cornelius Celsus ( 25 BC 50 AD) was a Roman encyclopaedist, known for his extant medical work, ''De Medicina'', which is believed to be the only surviving section of a much larger encyclopedia. The ''De Medicina'' is a primary source on ...

. The Roman agricultural writer

Columella Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella (; Arabic: , 4 – ) was a prominent writer on agriculture in the Roman Empire. His ' in twelve volumes has been completely preserved and forms an important source on Roman agriculture, together with the wo ...

lists it as a remedy for expelling worms in farm animals in his important first-century work ''On Agriculture''. Since then, horehound has appeared for similar purposes in numerous herbals over the centuries, such as ''The Herball, or, Generall historie of plantes'' by

John Gerard John Gerard (also John Gerarde, c. 1545–1612) was an English herbalist with a large garden in Holborn, now part of London. His 1,484-page illustrated ''Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes'', first published in 1597, became a popular gar ...

, and ''Every Man His Own Doctor: or, The Poor Planter’s Physician'' by Dr. John Tennent. ''M. vulgare'' has been promoted widely on the internet for its supposed therapeutic purposes. Nevertheless, , there is no good evidence that it has any value as a therapy. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not endorse the plant for use as a drug, but has declared it to be generally safe as a

food additive Food additives are substances added to food to preserve Taste, flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries as part of an effort to preserve food, for example vinegar (pickling), sal ...

Culinary

Horehound candy drops are bittersweet

hard candies A hard candy (American English), or boiled sweet (British English), is a sugar candy prepared from one or more sugar-based syrups that is heated to a temperature of 160 °C (320 °F) to make candy. Among the many hard candy varieti ...

cough drops A throat lozenge (also known as a cough drop, sore throat sweet, troche, cachou, pastille or cough sweet) is a small, typically medicated tablet intended to be dissolved slowly in the mouth to temporarily stop coughs, lubricate, and soothe irri ...

made with sugar and an

extract An extract is a substance made by extracting a part of a raw material, often by using a solvent such as ethanol, oil or water. Extracts may be sold as tinctures, absolutes or in powder form. The aromatic principles of many spices, nuts ...

of ''M. vulgare''. They are dark-colored, dissolve in the mouth, and have a flavor that has been compared to

menthol Menthol is an organic compound, more specifically a monoterpenoid, made synthetically or obtained from the oils of corn mint, peppermint, or other mints. It is a waxy, clear or white crystalline substance, which is solid at room temperature ...

and

root beer Root beer is a sweet North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree '' Sassafras albidum'' or the vine of '' Smilax ornata'' (known as sarsaparilla, also used to make a soft drink, sarsaparilla) as the ...

. Like other products derived from ''M. vulgare'', they are sometimes used as an unproven folk treatment for coughs and other ailments. ''M. vulgare'' is used to make beverages such as

horehound beer Horehound beer or horehound ale is a soft drink (alcohol-free) carbonated beverage, flavoured primarily with herbs (principally horehound), double hops and cane sugar. It is drunk in the southern United States, Australia and England. See als ...

(similar to

), horehound

herbal tea Herbal teas, also known as herbal infusions and less commonly called tisanes (UK and US , US also ), are beverages made from the infusion or decoction of herbs, spices, or other plant material in hot water. Oftentimes herb tea, or the plain term ...

(similar to the Maghrebi mint tea), and the rock and rye cocktail.

As an invasive weed

Horehound was introduced to southern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

in the 19th century as a medicinal herb. It became a weed of native grasslands and pastures where it was introduced with settlers' livestock and was first declared under

noxious weed A noxious weed, harmful weed or injurious weed is a weed that has been designated by an agricultural or other governing authority as a plant that is injurious to agricultural or horticultural crops, natural habitats or ecosystems, or humans or li ...

s legislation. It now appears to have reached its full potential distribution. In

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, efforts are being made to control its spread with

biocontrol Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, such as insects, mites, weeds, and plant diseases, using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also in ...

measures using the horehound clearwing moth ('' Chamaesphecia mysiniformis'') and the horehound plume moth ('' Wheeleria spilodactylus''), which could eat their way through many plants. Horehound is usually found in disturbed and overgrazed areas. It is highly unpalatable to livestock, so livestock eat other plants around it, a process that favors the persistence and spread of the weed. It may persist in native vegetation that has been grazed.

As biocontrol

''Marrubium vulgare'' is also used as a

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans ar ...

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grasshopp ...

repellent in agriculture.

In astrology

According to 14th century English poet

John Gower John Gower (; c. 1330 – October 1408) was an English poet, a contemporary of William Langland and the Pearl Poet, and a personal friend of Geoffrey Chaucer. He is remembered primarily for three major works, the '' Mirour de l'Omme'', '' Vo ...

, in Book 7 of ''his

Confessio Amantis ''Confessio Amantis'' ("The Lover's Confession") is a 33,000-line Middle English poem by John Gower, which uses the confession made by an ageing lover to the chaplain of Venus as a frame story for a collection of shorter narrative poems. Acco ...

'', this plant was the herb of the fourth star of , Capella. Gower uses the older name, Alhaiot (VII:1338).

Gallery

File:Marrubium vulgare.JPG, Wild horehound File:Marrubium vulgare0.jpg, Flowers File:Marrubium vulgare.jpg, Foliage of young plants File:Horehound bug.jpg, Horehound bug (''Agonoscelis rutila''), an insect that feeds on the plant File:Marrubium vulgare in Mexico II.jpg, Leaves (detail)

References

External links

EcoportEncyclopedia of LifeIndia Biodiversity PortalJepson Manual TreatmentTrefle
{{Authority control vulgare Flora of North Africa Flora of Europe Flora of Asia Herbs Medicinal plants Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Traditional medicine Candy