TEUCRIUM SCORDIUM subsp. SCORDIOIDES

Family and Genus:- See- LABIATAE/Sect SCORDIUM

Common Names:- Water germander

Homotypic Synonyms:- Scordium scordioides, Teucrium scordioides.

Meaning:- Teucrium (Gr) A name used by the Greek physician and botanist

Dioscorides, perhaps for the hero and first King of Troy, Teucer.

Scordium (Gr) A name used by the Greek physician and botanist

Dioscorides, for a plant with the smell of garlic

Scordioides (Gr) Resembling Scordium.

General description:- Softly hairy to subglabrous, stoloniferous perennial,

smelling of garlic when crushed.

Stems:-

1) 20-50 cm tall, suberect, often freely branched.

Leaves:-

1) Cauline, cordate, semiamplexicaul.

2) Lateral branched, rounded at the base, toothed all round.

Flowers:-

1) In distant, c. 4-flowered verticillasters forming lax spikes.

2) Floral leaves, like the cauline but somewhat smaller, exceeding the calyx.

3) Calyx c. 4 mm, somewhat gibbous at the base;

a) teeth, half as long as the tube, triangular, acute.

4) Corolla, 7-10 mm, pinkish-mauve to almost white;

a) lower lip, middle-lobe, elliptic-obovate,

b) lateral lobes, short, triangular.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets, smooth or reticulate.

Key features:-

1) Leaves, crenate, toothed or lobed.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Marshy places. damp ditches. (0-400m).

Distribution:- Most of Europe. Limited distribution on Crete mainly in the west

Flowering time:- July-Aug

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis