FIELD WOUNDWORT
Stachys arvensis
Mint / Dead-Nettle Family [Lamiaceae] 
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Mint / Dead-Nettle Family [Lamiaceae]
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status
flower
flower
flower
inner
morph
petals
(4)type
stem
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| 11th Aug 2018, a farmyard, Maghull, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| A hairy annual (the other Woundworts are not annual) growing to 25cm, much shorter than most other Woundworts. Stems are weak and spreading, but sometimes erect. |
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| 11th Aug 2018, a farmyard, Maghull, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| Leaf teeth are crenate (half-rounded) |
_2018_08_11_Maghull_LBS_591p1.jpg)
| 11th Aug 2018, a farmyard, Maghull, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| The lower lip is much shorter, perhaps because it is a younger specimen? Although the leaf teeth are rounded, some have a point at the tip. |
| 11th Aug 2018, a farmyard, Maghull, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| Stem is square with sometimes downwardly angled hairs. Flowers in single-layer whorls around the stem with only up to 6 flowers in a whorl. Upper leaves narrower than lower leaves. [The parachute seed of different plant has caught itself in this hairy plant] |
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| 11th Aug 2018, a farmyard, Maghull, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| Sepal teeth are long. The corolla is a dull purplish-pink and with ostensibly 4 petals, an upper petal, and 2 side lobes adjoining a longer lower lobe, which may or may not have a slight nick at the end (which might make '5' petals). The lower petal does get slightly longer than in these specimens, but it is never on a par with the length of those on Hedge Woundwort or Marsh Woundwort. |
| 11th Aug 2018, a farmyard, Maghull, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| You can just espy two cream-coloured sexual organs peeping from the top petal. |
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| 11th Aug 2018, a farmyard, Maghull, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| 11th Aug 2018, a farmyard, Maghull, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| The books say that Field Woundwort is without glandular hairs, but there are some on the sepal teeth of this one (unless it's dirt?). However, most hairs are just plain. |
_2018_08_11_Maghull_LBS_623p1.jpg)
| 11th Aug 2018, a farmyard, Maghull, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
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| 11th Aug 2018, a farmyard, Maghull, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
| Lower leaves are wider and more oval to olanceolate to cordate (heart-shaped), with more rounded teeth. |
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Some similarities to : Marsh Woundwort (Stachys palustris) but the corolla of that is pinkish purple rather than dullish-pink. And to Corn Mint (Mentha arvensis) which also grows in arable land but that has whorls which are in several stacked layers and a slightly minty odour. Slight resemblance to : Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) but that has petals of a much deeper red-purple. It grows in arable fields on either acidic or neutral soils but not on calcareous soils. The flowers, at 6-8mm, are about half as long as those of other Woundworts. Also, it does not have an objectional smell, if any aroma it has(?). |
 Stachys
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arvensis
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⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ |
Lamiaceae
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 Stachys (Woundworts) |
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Mint / Dead-Nettle Family [Lamiaceae]
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BSBI maps