欧夏至草 ou xia zhi cao

Marrubium vulgare Linnaeus var. lanatum Bentham.

Stems branched or unbranched, 30-40 cm tall, base woody, densely appressed lanate-villous. Leaves reduced upward; petiole 0.7-1.5 cm; leaf blade ovate to circular, 2-3.5 × 1.8-3 cm, adaxially polished, corrugate, and sparsely villous, abaxially densely scabrid strigose-villous, base broadly cuneate to rounded, margin dentate-serrate, apex obtuse to subrounded. Verticillasters axillary, many flowered, widely spaced basally, crowded upward, globose, 1.5-2.3 cm in diam.; bracts subulate, as long as to longer than calyx tube, reflexed. Calyx 10-veined; teeth 10, main 5 long, alternate with to 5 accessory teeth, 1-4 mm, subulate, hooked. Corolla white, ca. 9 mm; tube ca. 6 mm, densely pubescent outside, pilose annulate inside; upper lip as long as or slightly shorter than lower lip, straight or spreading, 2-lobed; middle lobe of lower lip reniform, undulate, 2-cleft. Nutlets triquetrous, ovoid, warty. Fl. Jun-Aug, fr. Jul-Sep.

Dry grassy loess, slopes. Xinjiang [Afghanistan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; SW Asia, Europe]

A bitter herb, which when dried is used as tea for debility and colds. The plant is also used in certain candies for coughs and sore throat, as an expectorant, as a diaphoretic, and as a laxative when taken in large doses. It is the source of an essential oil used in liqueurs. It is also a honey plant.