Teucrium L.
Perennial, rarely annual, herbs or small shrubs, sometimes rhizomatous. Lvs simple, usually toothed. Bracts leaflike or reduced. Verticels either axillary with 1-3 fls or fls sometimes in terminal heads or spikes. Calyx tubular or campanulate, sometimes gibbous at base, equally 5-toothed, or 2-lipped with unequal teeth. Corolla tube included or exserted, ± curved, usually short, without a ring of hairs inside; limb with lower lip 5-lobed, the terminal lobe much the largest; upper lip 0. Stamens usually long-exserted and curved. Style not gynobasic, its branches equal. Nutlets smooth or reticulate.
Key
c. 100 spp., widespread in temperate and subtropical regions, especially the Mediterranean. Naturalised spp. 2.
T. fruticans L. is a commonly cultivated shrub, particularly in drier eastern areas. It has white shoots and lf undersurfaces, a rather large, bluish corolla lip, but rarely sets seed and has not been reported wild in N.Z. although it is often a persistent relic of cultivation.
