SPECIES DESCRIPTION
LYCOPUS EUROPAEUS
Family and Genus:- See- LABIATAE
Common Names:- Gypsywort.
Homotypic Synonyms:- Lycopus riparius.
Meaning:- Lycopus (Gr) Wolf's-foot
Europaeus (L) From Europe, European.
General description:- Rhizomatous perennial sometimes with stolons, whole
plant usually sparsely short-pubescent.
Stems:-
1) Erect, usually simple 30-80 cm, sparsely to densely hairy.
Leaves:-
1) Cauline, 3-10(-15) x 1-5 cm, ovate-lanceolate or elliptical, pinnatifid or pinnatisect
at the base, shallowly lobed or coarsely toothed at the apex.
2) Upper, sometimes undivided but coarsely toothed.
3) Floral, like the cauline.
Flowers:-
1) In small dense, well separated verticillasters.
2) Bracts, 3-5 mm.
3) Calyx, 3·5-4·5 mm; teeth, (1·6-)2·1(-2·5) mm, about twice as long as the tube.
spiny.
4) Corolla, c. 4 mm, slightly exceeding the calyx, white with a few small purple
spots.
5) Staminodes, minute or absent.
Key features:-
1) Leaves, pinnatifid or pinnatisect at base, toothed or shallowly lobed at apex.
2) Bracts, 3-5 mm.
3) Calyx-teeth, c. 2 mm, spiny.
4) Staminodes, minute or absent.
Habitat:- Wet habitats by lakes, streams and irrigation channels, often in
semishade in scrub or gallery forest. 0-1100 m.
Distribution:- Scattered throughout Greece. A widespread variable Euro-Siberian
species. Rare on Crete, currently known from only one location.
Flowering time:- May-Oct.
Photos by:- Charalambos Chiotelis & Thomas Giannakis
