''Marrubium'' (horehound or hoarhound) is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s 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 ...

, native to temperate regions of Europe, North Africa, and Asia as far east as the

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

region of western China. A few species are also naturalized in North and South America.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> ;Species *'' Marrubium alyssoides'' Pomel – Algeria, Morocco *'' Marrubium alysson'' L. – Mediterranean from Spain + Morocco to Palestine *'' Marrubium anisodon'' K.Koch – Greece, Albania, Crimea, southwest Asia from Turkey to Kashmir *'' Marrubium aschersonii'' Magnus – Tunisia *'' Marrubium astracanicum'' Jacq. – Caucasus, Iran, Iraq, Turkey *'' Marrubium atlanticum'' Batt. – Morocco *'' Marrubium ayardii'' Maire – Morocco * ''Marrubium'' × ''bastetanum'' Coincy – Spain ''(M. supinum × M. vulgare)'' *'' Marrubium bourgaei'' Boiss. – Turkey *'' Marrubium catariifolium'' Desr. – Caucasus, Turkey *'' Marrubium cephalanthum'' Boiss. & Noë – Turkey *'' Marrubium cordatum'' Nábelek – Iran, Iraq, Turkey *'' Marrubium crassidens'' Boiss. – Iran, Iraq *'' Marrubium cuneatum'' Banks & Sol. – Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine *'' Marrubium cylleneum'' Boiss. & Heldr. – Greece *'' Marrubium depauperatum'' Boiss. & Balansa – Turkey *'' Marrubium duabense'' Murata – Iran, Afghanistan *'' Marrubium echinatum'' Ball – Morocco *'' Marrubium eriocephalum'' Seybold – Iraq *'' Marrubium fontianum'' Maire – Rif in northern Morocco *'' Marrubium friwaldskyanum'' Boiss. – Bulgaria *'' Marrubium glechomifolium'' Freyn & Conrath – Caucasus *'' Marrubium globosum'' Montbret & Aucher ex Benth. – Turkey, Syria, Lebanon *'' Marrubium heterocladum'' Emb. & Maire – Rif in northern Morocco *'' Marrubium heterodon'' (Benth.) Boiss. & Balansa – Turkey *'' Marrubium hierapolitanum'' Mouterde – Syria * ''Marrubium'' × ''humbertii'' Emb. & Maire – Morocco ''(M. ayardii × M. multibracteatum)'' *'' Marrubium incanum'' Desr. – Italy (including Sicily + Sardinia), Greece, Albania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria *''

Marrubium leonuroides ''Marrubium'' (horehound or hoarhound) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae, native to temperate regions of Europe, North Africa, and Asia as far east as the Xinjiang region of western China. A few species are also naturalized ...

'' Desr. – Caucasus,

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

*'' Marrubium litardierei'' Marmey – Morocco *'' Marrubium lutescens'' Boiss. & Heldr. – Turkey *'' Marrubium multibracteatum'' Humbert & Maire – Morocco * ''Marrubium'' × ''paniculatum'' Desr. – Austria, Czech Republic, Yugoslavia ''(M. peregrinum × M. vulgare)'' *'' Marrubium parviflorum'' Fisch. & C.A.Mey. – Turkey, Iran, Caucasus *'' Marrubium peregrinum'' L. – central + Eastern Europe, Turkey, Caucasus *'' Marrubium persicum'' C.A.Mey – Turkey, Iran, Caucasus *'' Marrubium pestalozzae'' Boiss. – Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Crimea *'' Marrubium plumosum'' C.A.Mey. – Caucasus *'' Marrubium procerum'' Bunge – Iran *'' Marrubium propinquum'' Fisch. & C.A.Mey. – Iran, Caucasus *'' Marrubium rotundifolia'' Boiss. – Turkey *'' Marrubium sivasense'' Aytaç, Akgül & Ekici – Turkey *'' Marrubium supinum'' L. – Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia *'' Marrubium thessalum'' Boiss. & Heldr. – Albania, Greece *'' Marrubium trachyticum'' Boiss. – Turkey *'' Marrubium vanense'' Hub.-Mor. – Turkey *'' Marrubium velutinum'' Sm. – Greece *'' Marrubium vulcanicum'' Hub.-Mor. – Turkey *''

Marrubium vulgare ''Marrubium vulgare'' (white horehound or common horehound) is a flowering plant in the mint family (Lamiaceae), native to Europe, northern Africa, and southwestern and central Asia. Specifically, it emerged in the region between the Mediterranea ...

'' L. – White horehound or common horehound – widespread from Denmark + Azores + Canary Islands east to Xingiang; naturalized in New Zealand,

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

Easter Island Easter Island (, ; , ) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is renowned for its nearly 1,000 extant monumental statues, ...

, North + South America The genus name ''Marrubium'' derives from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''marrubii'', meaning horehound. The French Talmudic exegete,

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

, thinks that this herb may have been used as one of the bitter herbs on the night of

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

.''Sefer Targum Ha-La'az'' (ed. Yisroel Gukovitzky), London 1992, p. 68 (entry no. 1000e) The common English name horehound is of unknown origin, but with the first part 'hore' derived from "hoary", "hairy". The species formerly classified as ''Marrubium nigrum'' (Black Horehound) is now placed in the genus '' Ballota''. ''Marrubium'' species are used as food plants by the

larva A larva (; : larvae ) is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into their next life stage. Animals with indirect development such as insects, some arachnids, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase ...

e of some

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) or lepidopterans is an order (biology), order of winged insects which includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera have been described, representing 10% of the total described species of living organ ...

species including '' Coleophora lineolea''.

References

{{Authority control Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Lamiaceae genera