Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Lamium amplexicaule

Flowering stem. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Royal Botanic Gardens Mt Annan, near Campbelltown

Flowers and leaves from above. Photographer Malcolm Storey, England

Flowering stems. Photographer Don Wood, Bungonia State Conservation Area east of Goulburn

Common name

Henbit, Dead Nettle

Family

Lamiaceae

Where found

Disturbed sites, roadsides, and gardens. Widespread. Mostly in the Sydney area and Blue Mountains.

Notes

Introduced annual herb to 0.40 m high, sparsely to densely hairy. Stems square in cross section, often purplish. Leaves aromatic when rubbed, opposite each other, 0.7–2 cm long, 10–25 mm wide, surfaces hairy, tips blunt to rounded, margins scalloped to toothed and/or lobed, upper leaves stalkless and usually stem-clasping. Flowers pink to purplish, usually with darker spots, 6–20 mm long,  tubular, 2-lipped, the upper lip hooded, the lower lip 3-lobed, the middle lobe much narrower than the lateral lobes. Stamens enclosed in the hood of the upper lobe. Flowers sometimes self-fertilise without opening. Flowers mostly in clusters of 1-5 subtended by paired leaves. Flowering: April–November.

Lamium amplexicaule var. amplexicaule in VICFLORA.

PlantNET  description:   https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Lamium~amplexicaule  (accessed 22 January, 2021)