Teucrium hircanicum L.

Perennial herb, clump-forming and not rhizomatous; stems hairy, to c. 50 cm long (including infl.), woody at base. Petiole to 3 cm long on vegetative shoots, c. 5 mm long on flowering shoots. Lamina 3–10 × 2–7 cm, ovate or oblong-ovate, crenate, sometimes deeply so, ± villous when young, later becoming sparsely hairy above but remaining densely hairy below; base truncate to cordate; apex obtuse. Infl. a dense terminal spike-like raceme c. 15 cm long; bracts subulate, < calyx. Pedicels 1–2 mm long. Calyx 3–4 mm long, campanulate, somewhat gibbous at base, densely hairy, glandular-scaly, prominently veined at fruiting. Corolla tube 3–5 mm long, hairy; limb ± deflexed and concave, hairy outside, reddish purple; terminal lobe c. 3–4 mm diam., rounded; lateral lobes 1–1.5 mm long, ovate, rounded at apex. Filaments hairy in lower 3/4, purplish in exserted part. Nutlets c. 1 mm long, suborbicular, wider than long, brownish, reticulate.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

Flowering: Dec.–Mar.