CLINOPODIUM VULGARE

Family and Genus:- See- LABIATAE

Common Name:- Wild basil.

Homotypic Synonyms:-

Meaning:- Clinopodium (Gr) Bed-foot (for the knob shaped appearance of the

inflorescence.

Vulgare (L) Common.

General description:- Short to medium, softly hairy perennial, faintly aromatic.

Stems:-

1) Erect, unbranched or slightly branched.

Leaves:-

1) 20-65 x 10-30 mm, ovate-lanceolate or ovate, subobtuse, rounded or cuneate at

the base, shallowly and remotely crenate-serrate, petiolate.

Flowers:-

1) Pinkish-purple, 12-22 mm long, upper lip flat; borne in dense, rather distant,

verticillasters.

2) Calyx, 7-9·5 mm; purplish, more or less. 2-lipped, curved.

a) lower teeth 2·5-4 mm.

b) upper teeth up to 2·5 mm.

Fruit:-

1) Nutlets, 4 1-seeded.

Key features:-

1) Calyx, not gibbous or constricted; tube curved.

2) Inflorescence, of many-flowered verticillasters or of pedunculate cymes.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Dry grassy and stony habitats, open woodland, scrub, roadsides,

embankments, hedgerows. 0-1700 m.

Distribution:- Aegean area, Balkans and SW Asia. On Crete confined the the three

main massifs. Rare.

Flowering time:- May to early Aug.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton