Lamium hybridum Vill.
cut-leaved dead nettle
Annual herb with slightly hairy, ascending stems. Petioles slender, to at least 4 cm long. Lamina 1.5-4 × 2-5 cm (infl. lvs often smaller), broad-ovate or almost reniform, irregularly and deeply dentate or crenate, hairy; base cordate or subcordate. Bracts similar to lvs but petiole short and lamina to 3.5 × 5 cm. Calyx 8-10 mm long, hairy; teeth = tube, subulate, prominently ciliate. Corolla 11-15 mm long, purplish; tube with at most an inconspicuous basal ring of hairs inside; upper lip 3-4 mm long, tomentose outside; lower lip c. 2 mm long, deeply emarginate. Nutlets c. 2.5 mm long, patterned white, sharply angled.
S.: commonest in Nelson, also S. Canterbury and Otago.
Europe, N. Africa 1957
Waste places, river beds, gardens.
FL Jun-Dec.
Cut-leaved dead nettle is apparently uncommon, but is probably often overlooked because of its similarity to L. purpureum; the key characters of lf teeth and corolla tube hairs distinguish them.
