Ballota Nigra
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''Ballota nigra'', the black horehound, is a
perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...
herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...
in the family
Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family (biology), 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 (herb), ba ...
. It is native to
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, the Mediterranean region and east to central Asia. It is also
naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...
in Argentina, New Zealand, and the eastern United States.Kew ''Plants of the World Online''
/ref> It blooms in the
Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...
from May to August.


Description

''Ballota nigra'' has a very strong characteristic smell reminiscent of
mould A mold () or mould () is one of the structures that certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi ...
or damp soil, and can be recognised by its clusters of hairy, reddish-purple flowers. It can grow up to tall.


Stem and root

It has erect herbaceous stems, wooden and branched at bottom, covered by downy hairs. The plant has a taproot system.


Leaves

The
leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...
are opposite and decussate, and range from oval-lanceolate to heart-shaped, with crenate or dentate border. They are dark green and usually pubescent, measuring 2–8 cm by 2–6 cm, and have a 1–3 cm petiole. Upper face is wrinkled, with a net-like vein pattern.


Flowers

The
flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...
s are arranged in verticillasters, subspherical to one-sided, with 15–30 flowers. Each verticillaster consist of two condensed dichasial cymes in the axils of normal leaves. Each flower has an actinomorphic calyx, length 9–10 mm, width 7 mm, made up of five
sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...
s fused together in a tube with five teeths; and a labiate corolla of 12–14 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
stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...
s, running parallel under the upper lip, with glabrous filaments and yellow anthers. The
ovary The ovary () is a gonad in the female reproductive system that produces ova; when released, an ovum travels through the fallopian tube/ oviduct into the uterus. There is an ovary on the left and the right side of the body. The ovaries are end ...
is superior, with a single white style and a 2-parted stigma. Below the calyx there are five filiform bracts, 8 mm long. The flowers are pollinated by a wide variety of different
bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...
species.


Fruit

Each fertilised 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.


Taxonomy

The plant was described by
Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
in ''Species Plantarum'' (May 1753). The name ''Ballota'' comes from the Greek ''ballo'' (to reject), because of the strong offensive smell of the plant; cattle will not eat it. The specific name ''nigra'' could refer to the black colour of dried leaves.


Subspecies

The following
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
are accepted: #''Ballota nigra'' subsp. ''anatolica'' P.H.Davis - Iran, Turkey #''Ballota nigra'' subsp. ''anomala'' Greuter - Greece #''Ballota nigra'' subsp. ''meridionalis'' (Bég.) Bég. (syn. ''B. n.'' subsp. ''foetida'' (Vis.) Hayek) - central + southern Europe; naturalised in Sweden, Ukraine, Cyprus, Turkey, Argentina #''Ballota nigra'' subsp. ''kurdica'' P.H.Davis - Iran, Iraq, Turkey #''Ballota nigra'' subsp. ''nigra'' - southern and central Europe, Great Britain, Sweden, Caucasus, Iran, Turkey; naturalised in Belgium, New Zealand, Argentina #''Ballota nigra'' subsp. ''ruderalis'' (Sw.) Briq. - Mediterranean region; Canary Islands, Madeira, Azores #''Ballota nigra'' subsp. ''sericea'' (Vandas) Patzak - Albania, Macedonia, Greece #''Ballota nigra'' subsp. ''velutina'' (Posp.) Patzak - Slovenia, Croatia; naturalised in Argentina


Etymology

The common name comes from the Old English words ''har'', meaning "downy or
hoary {{Short pages monitor