Lycopus europaeus L.
gypsywort [Editorial note: used historically, no longer used as it is offensive.]
Perennial herb. Stem hairy, to c. 1 m tall. Lvs shortly petiolate or sessile. Lamina 3-8.5 × 1-3 cm, ovate-lanceolate to elliptic, deeply crenate-serrate, hairy at first, becoming glabrous or nearly so; basal area with narrow-oblong or linear-oblong lobes extending to midrib; apex ± acuminate. Upper lvs and bracts smaller, without basal lobes, hairy, especially on veins below. Calyx c. 3 mm long, hairy; teeth > tube, lanceolate-acuminate. Corolla 3.5-4 mm long, white with purple spots on lower lip and in throat. Nutlets 1.2-1.3 mm long, broad-obovoid, glandular and swollen on anterior face, with margin clearly delimited.
N.: Waikato.
Europe, cold temperate Asia 1940
River banks and adjacent wet pastures, uncommon.
FL Nov-Apr.
