Stachys aurea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Stachys aurea | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Lamiaceae |
| Genus: | Stachys |
| Species: | S. aurea |
| Binomial name | |
| Stachys aurea | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Stachys aurea, the golden woundwort, is a species of hedgenettle endemic to South Africa.[2][3]
Identification
This species is a freely branched shrub 0.3–1 m (1 ft 0 in – 3 ft 3 in) tall, with spreading to ascending branches that are densely covered in yellowish-white stellate hairs.[4]
The leaves are small, subsessile or borne on short stalks, with thin-textured green blades that are obovate to narrowly elliptic, 10–20 mm (0.39–0.79 in) long. Both surfaces are sparsely to densely stellate-hairy, sometimes nearly hairless above. The tips are acute to blunt, the bases wedge-shaped, and the margins entire or with a few teeth near the apex.[4]
The flowers are produced at the ends of slender branches in few to several whorls, each bearing four to six flowers. The bracts resemble the leaves and are stellate-hairy. The calyx is densely yellowish and woolly, 6–9 mm (0.24–0.35 in) long. The corolla is yellow, with a short tube, an ascending upper lip, and a downward-curving lower lip.[4]
Stachys aurea flowers from September to February.[2][4]
This species can be distinguished from other Stachys within its range by its green leaves and the yellow-tinged woolly surface of its calyces.[4]
Distribution and habitat
Stachys aurea is found on clay or sandy slopes in the south-western Great Karoo – especially the Tankwa and the Roggeveld Mountains – to Pakhuis and southern Namaqualand.[2][4]
