Ballota nigra L.
Black Horehound
Black horehound is an upright, bushy perennial of the dead-nettle family, long established in Britain as an ancient introduction (an archaeophyte) thought to have arrived with early human settlement. It has square stems and coarse, nettle-like, toothed leaves, and gives off a strong, musty, rather unpleasant smell when bruised, which deters grazing animals.
About
Black horehound is an upright, bushy perennial of the dead-nettle family, long established in Britain as an ancient introduction (an archaeophyte) thought to have arrived with early human settlement. It has square stems and coarse, nettle-like, toothed leaves, and gives off a strong, musty, rather unpleasant smell when bruised, which deters grazing animals. The two-lipped flowers are dull pinkish-purple to mauve and are carried in dense whorls in the upper leaf joints.
It is a plant of disturbed, nutrient-rich ground, typically found along hedgerows, road verges, field margins, walls and waste places, often near habitation. Flowering through summer and into autumn, the flowers are well visited by bumblebees and other long-tongued insects. Though too rank and weedy for ornamental borders, it has a place in hedgerow and rough-margin plantings and as a reliable late-season nectar source on the kind of fertile, disturbed soils where many other wildflowers struggle.
Also known as
fetid horehound
Synonyms
Ballota foetida · Ballota nigra urticifolia · Ballota sordida · Ballota urticifolia · Marrubium ballota · Marrubium nigrum · Stachys ballota
Beta — under active development. This catalogue is still being built and accuracy-checked. The information here (including plant identifications, British native status, soil and sun/shade preferences) is provided in good faith for general guidance only and may contain errors or omissions. It must not be relied upon on its own — please confirm details with us before making planting, specification, foraging or purchasing decisions, and never eat or medicinally use any plant based on this catalogue alone, as some species are toxic. To the extent permitted by law, Phoenix Amenity Supplies accepts no liability for any loss arising from use of this information.