1. Stachys aspera Michx. (hyssop hedge nettle, hedge nettle)
S. hyssopifolia Michx. var. ambigua A. Gray
Pl. 443 d, e;
Map 2000
Stems 40–80 cm
long, glabrous on the sides, roughened with sparse, short, downward-angled,
pustular-based hairs along the angles, often with a transverse line of longer,
slender, spreading hairs at the nodes, sometimes also with scattered, longer,
spreading hairs. Leaves sessile or short-petiolate, the petioles all less than
7 mm long. Leaf blades 2–7 cm long, lanceolate to oblong, usually narrowly so,
mostly angled at the base, angled or more commonly tapered to a sharply pointed
tip, the surfaces glabrous or nearly so. Inflorescences interrupted spikes, the
nodes mostly well-spaced. Calyces 5–7 mm long, the tube glabrous or with
sparse, spreading, pustular-based hairs, the lobes 2.5–3.5 mm long, glabrous.
Corollas 12–15 mm long. 2n=68. June–August.
Uncommon, mostly
in the northern half of the state (eastern U.S. west to Wisconsin, Missouri,
and Alabama). Edges of bottomland forests, banks of streams, margins of ponds,
lakes, and sinkhole ponds, and marshes; also pastures and moist, disturbed
areas.
Steyermark
(1963) knew this plant only from a few historical collections form the St.
Louis area. The present distribution probably reflects the benefits of
additional field and herbarium studies during the past few decades rather than
an expansion of the taxon’s range. Most of the Missouri records remain
historical.
Mulligan and
Munro (1989) reported Missouri in their distributional summary of the closely
related S. hyssopifolia Michx. without documentation. Specimens
referable to this species could not be located during the present study; it is
thus excluded from the flora for the present. Stachys hyssopifolia
occurs mostly in states along the Atlantric seaboard and also in states bordering
Lake Michigan. It differs from S. aspera in its linear to narrowly
oblong leaves (less than 7 mm wide) that are often entire or nearly so.