Flora of New Zealand Series

white dead nettle

Perennial rhizomatous herb with hairy stems ascending to c. 50 cm. Lower lvs with slender petioles to 5 cm long; upper lvs and bracts with shorter petioles. Lamina 4-8 × 2-5 cm, ovate, hairy, especially above, crenate-serrate, sometimes deeply cut; base cordate or subcordate. Bracts very similar to lvs. Calyx 10-12 mm long, hairy; teeth slightly > tube, subulate. Corolla 1.8-2.3 cm long, white with hairy ring inside near base; upper lip c. 1 cm long, tomentose outside; lateral lobes of lower lip with 2 small teeth. Nutlets c. 2.5 mm long, sharply angled, patterned white.

N.: Levin, Wellington area, especially around Pauatahanui; S.: Riccarton Bush (Christchurch), Hokitika (Westland).

Temperate Eurasia 1872

Very localised but occasionally common, usually in rather moist places in the shade of trees near old cultivation sites.

FL Sep-Dec-(Aug).