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Lamiaceae Taxonomy Browser
Teucrium scordium L.
EOL Text
Water germander is a perennial plant that can spread by means of creeping runners, which can produce roots (1). The flowers appear from June through to October (2), and open habitat patches are needed for germination to occur (1), but flowering and seed production are often poor (4). It is pollinated by bees but may also self-fertilise (5). The plant does not seem to fare very well in particularly hot or dry years (1).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Copyright Wildscreen 2003-2008 |
Source | http://www.arkive.org/water-germander/teucrium-scordium/ |
Water germander is similar in appearance to a mint (2), although the flowers are bigger (5). The leaves, which occur in opposite pairs on the stem (5), are covered in soft hairs and smell of garlic when crushed. The pinkish to purple flowers can reach up to 1cm in length, and are produced in small whorls (2).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Copyright Wildscreen 2003-2008 |
Source | http://www.arkive.org/water-germander/teucrium-scordium/ |
Gansu, Xinjiang [Russia; Europe]
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200020475 |
This species was once known from over twenty sites in eastern and central England, but is now known from just 3 UK sites, two in Devon, and the other in Cambridgeshire (1)(4). Elsewhere, the species occurs throughout most of Europe, but is in decline in many countries (1). It is also known from Siberia and the Aral-Caspian area (1).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Copyright Wildscreen 2003-2008 |
Source | http://www.arkive.org/water-germander/teucrium-scordium/ |
Herbs perennial. Stems ascending, 25-35 cm tall, lanate-villous, with hairs 1-1.5 mm, branched from base. Leaves subsessile basally, sessile apically; leaf blade obovate to oblong, 1.2-3 × 0.4-1.2 cm, adaxially appressed villous, abaxially spreading villous mainly along veins and glandular, base rounded to broadly cuneate, margin remotely 3-6-crenate to coarsely 3-6-serrate, apex obtuse. Verticillasters 2-6-flowered, inserted on all but basal nodes. Pedicel 4-5 mm. Calyx tubular-campanulate, ca. 2.8 mm, very swollen in front at base, villous and glandular villous outside; teeth triangular, ca. 1/2 as long as calyx, with anterior 2 slightly narrower. Corolla purple, ca. 6 mm, pubescent outside; limb with a tuft of hairs inside, middle lobe oblong, undulate, lateral lobes obliquely ovate-triangular. Ovary white barbate. Nutlets ovoid, ca. 1 mm, slightly netted. Fl. Jul-Aug, fr. Sep.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200020475 |
Moist areas; ca. 1000 m.
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | eFloras.org Copyright © Missouri Botanical Garden |
Source | http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200020475 |
Occurs in a range of damp habitats such as dune-slacks, ditches, riverbanks (1), fens, ponds, turloughs (flat-bottomed lakes), lake margins (4) and pits on calcareous soil, typically in relatively open areas with short vegetation (1).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Copyright Wildscreen 2003-2008 |
Source | http://www.arkive.org/water-germander/teucrium-scordium/ |
Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 4
Specimens with Barcodes: 4
Species With Barcodes: 1
Classified as Vulnerable in Great Britain, and fully protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (1).
License | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ |
Rights holder/Author | Copyright Wildscreen 2003-2008 |
Source | http://www.arkive.org/water-germander/teucrium-scordium/ |