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Published In: Species Plantarum 2: 564. 1753. (1 May 1753) (Sp. Pl.) Name publication detailView in BotanicusView in Biodiversity Heritage Library
 

Project Name Data (Last Modified On 8/25/2017)
Acceptance : Accepted
Project Data     (Last Modified On 7/9/2009)
Status: Native

 

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1. Teucrium canadense L. (wood sage, American germander)

Pl. 444 a, b; Map 2004

Plants perennial herbs, with rhizomes, sometimes also producing tubers, often colonial. Stems 35–120 cm long, bluntly to strongly 4-angled, erect or strongly ascending, unbranched or few-branched, moderately to densely pubescent with short, downward-angled hairs and sometimes also with longer, spreading hairs. Leaves opposite, sessile or short-petiolate, the petiole narrowly unwinged. Leaf blades 3–12(–16) cm long, 1–5 cm wide, lanceolate to ovate or oblong-lanceolate, angled at the base, angled or short-tapered to a sharply pointed tip, the margins finely to coarsely toothed, the upper surface glabrous or sparsely to moderately pubescent with short, loosely appressed hairs, the undersurface sparsely to densely pubescent with short, curved, loosely appressed hairs or relatively long, straight to woolly hairs, these tending to obscure the inconspicuous sessile glands. Inflorescences terminal, dense spikelike racemes, the flowers 2–6 per node and mostly overlapping those of adjacent nodes, the stalks 1–4 mm long. Bracts progressively shorter from the inflorescence base to tip, 4–25 mm long, leaflike, lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate or occasionally linear, usually longer than the calyces. Bractlets absent. Calyces 5–9 mm long at flowering, zygomorphic, lacking a lateral projection, more or less symmetric at the base, bell-shaped, the tube finely 10-nerved, with scattered longer, nonglandular hairs and sometimes also moderate, shorter, gland-tipped hairs in the mouth, the outer surface usually densely hairy, 2-lipped, the lobes shorter than the tube, the upper lip with 3 ovate to triangular lobes, straight or slightly arched upward, the lower lip with 2 narrowly triangular lobes, slightly arched upward, the lobes not spinescent, not becoming enlarged at fruiting, but becoming somewhat leathery. Corollas 10–18 mm long, strongly zygomorphic, corollas pinkish purple to pale lavender or rarely white, usually with darker purple spots or mottling on the lower lip, the surfaces usually moderately pubescent with short, gland-tipped hairs, sometimes also gland-dotted, the tube funnelform, divided to below the midpoint, the upper lip appearing absent, the lower lip prominent, 5-lobed, the 2 pairs of smaller lateral lobes ascending to arched upward, the longer central lobe obovate to somewhat rhombic, abruptly bent downward. Stamens 4, strongly exserted, the filaments somewhat arched downward, the anthers small, the connective not visible, the pollen sacs 2, parallel (back-to-back and dehiscing along opposite sides, reddish brown to orangish brown. Ovary shallowly lobed, the style appearing terminal or somewhat lateral from a shallow apical notch. Style strongly exserted, with 2 slender branches at the tip. Fruits dry schizocarps, consisting of usually 4 nutlets, these 1.5–2.5 mm long, broadly ovoid, the surface light brown to reddish brown, glabrous, with a network of shallow ridges or wrinkles. 2n=32. June–September.

Scattered to common throughout the state (nearly throughout the U.S.; Canada, Mexico, Caribbean Islands). Bottomland forests, bottomland prairies, upland prairies, loess hill prairies, banks of streams and rivers, margins of sinkhole ponds, fens, and marshes; also pastures, old fields, margins of crop fields, fencerows, levees, railroads, and roadsides.

Teucrium canadense is sometimes cultivated as an ornamental, although it can spread aggressively in some garden situations. According to Steyermark (1963), plants were once used medicinally as a stimulant. The species is among several members of the Lamiaceae that have been investigated as sources of natural rubbers (Buchanan et al., 1978).

McClintock and Epling (1946), in their taxonomic revision of New World Teucrium, recognized three varieties of T. canadense based primarily upon differences in pubescence patterns, two of which occur in Missouri. Shinners (1963) combined two of these three varieties, but named a third, var. nashii (Kearney) Shinners, for plants of the southeastern United States similar to var. canadense, but with the leaves silvery-hairy on the undersurface.

 


 

 
 
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