Stachys

"Woundwort" redirects here. For the fictional rabbit, see General Woundwort.

For the first bishop of Byzantium, see Stachys the Apostle.

Stachys
File:Stachys cooleyae 3949.JPG
Stachys cooleyae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Lamiaceae
Subfamily:	Lamioideae
Genus:	Stachys L.
Type species
Stachys sylvatica L.
Species
About 300; see text
Synonyms
Betonica L. Galeopsis Hill 1756 not L. 1753 nor Adans. 1763 nor Moench 1794 Galeopsis Moench 1794 not L. 1753 nor Adans. 1763 nor Moench 1794 nor Hill 1756 Zietenia Gled. Trixago Haller Bonamya Neck. Eriostomum Hoffmanns. & Link Tetrahitum Hoffmanns. & Link Eriostemum Steud Olisia Spach Ortostachys Fourr. Trixella Fourr. Aspasia E.Mey. ex Pfeiff. Stachyus St.-Lag. Lamiostachys Krestovsk. Menitskia (Krestovsk.) Krestovsk.

Stachys is one of the largest genera in the flowering plant family Lamiaceae. Estimates of the number of species in the genus vary from about 300, to about 450. The type species for the genus is Stachys sylvatica. Stachys is in the subfamily Lamioideae. Generic limits and relationships in this subfamily are poorly known.

The distribution of the genus covers Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia and North America. Common names include hedgenettle, heal-all, self-heal, woundwort, betony, and lamb's ears. Wood betony, Stachys officinalis, was the most important medicinal herb to the Anglo-Saxons of early medieval Great Britain.

The Chinese artichoke (S. affinis), is grown for its edible tuber. Several species are cultivated as ornamentals. Woolly Betony (S. byzantina) is a popular decorative garden plant.

Stachys was named by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum in 1753. The name is derived from the Greek word σταχυς (stachys), meaning "an ear of grain", and refers to the fact that the inflorescence is often a spike. The name woundwort derives from the past use of certain species in herbal medicine for the treatment of wounds.

Stachys species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the moths Coleophora auricella, C. lineolea, and C. wockeella, all recorded on S. officinalis. They are also widely used by the European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum), which scrape the hairs from the plant in order to use them for building their nests.

Description

Stachys is a genus of shrubs and annual or perennial herbs. The stems vary from 50–300 cm (20–118 in) tall, with simple, opposite, triangular leaves, 1–14 cm (0.39–5.51 in) long with serrate margins. In most species, the leaves are softly hairy. The flowers are 1 to 2 cm (0.39 to 0.79 in) long, clustered in the axils of the leaves on the upper part of the stem. The corolla is 5-lobed with the top lobe forming a 'hood', varying from white to pink, purple, red or pale yellow.

Habitat

In Europe, Stachys can be found growing in wastelands, grasslands and woodland edges. All-heal thrives in any damp soil in full sun or in light shade. Plants are apt to become troublesome weeds in turf that is at all damp. Sow seed in very early spring in a flat outdoors, or give a short cold and moist conditioning treatment before sowing in a warm place. Growing from 1 to 2 feet high, with creeping, self-rooting, tough, square, reddish stems branching at leaf axis. The leaves are lance shaped, serrated and reddish at tip, about an inch long and 1/2 inch broad, grow on short stalks in opposite pairs down the square stem. The flowers grow from a clublike, somewhat square, whirled cluster, immediately below this club are a pair of stalkless leaves standing out on either side like a collar. Flowers are two lipped and tubular, the top lip is a purple hood, and the bottom lip is often white, it has three lobes with the middle lobe being larger and fringed upwardly. Flowers bloom at different times depending on climate and other conditions. Mostly from June to August. Gather whole plant when flowers bloom, dry for later herb use. Leaves and small flowers are edible.

Circumscription

The distinction between Stachys and other genera is unclear and has varied from one author to another. In 2002, a molecular phylogenetic study showed that Stachys officinalis is not closely related to the rest of the genus. This study also found six other genera to be embedded within Stachys as it is currently circumscribed. The embedded genera are Prasium, Phlomidoschema, Sideritis, Haplostachys, Phyllostegia, and Stenogyne.

Diversity

File:Stachys sylvatica - mets-nõianõges.jpg

Stachys sylvatica

File:Stachys monnieri0.jpg

Stachys monnieri

Species include:

Stachys affinis Bunge – Chinese artichoke Stachys ajugoides Benth. – bugle hedgenettle Stachys albens A.Gray – white hedgenettle, whitestem hedgenettle Stachys albicaulis Stachys alopecuros Stachys alpina – alpine woundwort Stachys annua (L.) L. – annual woundwort Stachys arvensis L. – staggerweed, field woundwort Stachys bullata Benth. Stachys byzantina K.Koch – woolly betony, lamb's ear Stachys candida Stachys chamissonis Benth. – great hedge nettle, coastal hedge nettle Stachys chrysantha Stachys ciliata Stachys citrina Stachys clingmanii – Clingman's hedge nettle Stachys coccinea Jacq. Stachys cooleyae Heller – Cooley's hedge nettle Stachys corsica Stachys cretica L. Stachys discolor Stachys ehrenbergii Stachys floridana Shuttlew. ex Benth. – Florida hedgenettle, Florida betony Stachys germanica L. – downy woundwort

Stachys glutinosa Stachys hispida – rough hedge-nettle Stachys hyssopifolia Stachys iva Stachys lanata Stachys lavandulifolia Stachys libanotica Stachys macrantha (K.Koch) Stearn Stachys macrostachya Stachys manantlanensis B.L.Turner Stachys mexicana Benth. – Mexican hedge nettle Stachys milanii Stachys monnieri (Gouan) P.W.Ball Stachys officinalis (L.) Trevis. – betony Stachys palustris L. – marsh woundwort, marsh hedge-nettle Stachys pumila Stachys pycnantha Benth. Stachys recta L. – yellow woundwort Stachys riddellii Stachys scardia Stachys stricta Stachys sylvatica L. – hedge woundwort Stachys tenuifolia Willd. – smooth hedgenettle

Formerly placed here

• Agastache foeniculum (Pursh) Kuntze (as S. foeniculum Pursh)
• Leonurus japonicus Houtt. (as S. artemisia Lour.)

• Stachys byzantina flowers.jpg

  Stachys byzantina

• Stachys palustris 2005.07.03 12.12.10.jpg

  Stachys palustris

• Illustration Stachys sylvatica0.jpg

  Stachys sylvatica

• Stachys tenuifolia var. hispida.jpg

  Stachys tenuifolia var. hispida

External links

• Stachys At:Index Nominum Genericorum At: References At: NMNH Department of Botany
• Stachys In: Species Plantarum At: Biodiversity Heritage Library
• CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: R-Z At: Botany & Plant Science At: Life Science At: CRC Press

• Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
• Harley, R. M., et al. 2004. "Labiatae". pages 167–275. In: Kubitzki, K. (editor) and J. W. Kadereit (volume editor). The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants volume VII. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany. ISBN 978-3-540-40593-1
• Mabberley, D. J. 2008. Mabberley's Plant-Book third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK.
• Stachys In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: Regnum Vegetabile (see External links below).
• Carolus Linnaeus. 1753. Species Plantarum 2:580. Laurentii Salvii. (see External Links below).
• Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names volume I, page 91. CRC Press: Boca Raton; New York; Washington, DC;, USA. London, UK. ISBN 978-0-8493-2673-8 (set). (see External links below).
• Lindqvist, C. and V. A. Albert. 2002. Origin of the Hawaiian endemic mints within North American Stachys (Lamiaceae). American Journal of Botany 89(10), 1709–24.