Lamium purpureum L.
red dead nettle
Annual herb with lax, hairy, spreading to erect stems to c. 50 cm long, often < 7 cm long in dry situations. Petioles to c. 6 cm long, slender. Lamina 2-4.5 × 1.5-3.2 cm (infl. lvs sometimes smaller), ovate to suborbicular, hairy, especially above, crenate; base truncate to cordate. Bracts similar to lvs but often larger and with short petioles. Calyx 4-9 mm long, accrescent, hairy; teeth ± = tube, subulate, often purple. Corolla 10-14 mm long, purple or deep pink; tube with prominent ring of hairs inside near base; upper lip 3-4 mm long, tomentose outside; lower lip spotted dark purple, deeply emarginate, the lateral lobes very small and toothed. Nutlets 2.2-5 mm long, sharply angled, often patterned white.
N.; S.: very common throughout; K. (Raoul Id, but not persisting); C.
Eurasia 1878
Cultivated land, waste places, river beds and poor pastures.
FL Sep-Nov-(Aug).
L. purpureum has apparently become widespread in N.Z. only recently; Allan (1940) gave its distribution as the northern half of the South Id.
