Stachys bombycina


Stachys bombycina is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae endemic to the SW coastal regions of Turkey. It was first published in 1853.

Description

Stachys bombycina is a woody-based, perennial herb with many moderately long, fairly simple-looking upright woolly stems, growing on calcareous rocks or rocky typically under Pinus brutia woods near the coast, at an altitude of 10–600 m.
The stems and leaves are whitened with a dense layer of woolly hair on the surface, persisting at maturity. The leaves are moderately sized, oval, and crenate-serrate toothed. Its flowers are in 1-2 well-separated whorls on the upper parts of the stems. The flowers are pale to moderate purple, with stronger markings, each very short-stalked, with a woolly-covered calyx whose 5 lobes are not strongly spiny-ended, and at maturity these lobes do not recurve out but remain erect or a little spreading.
As an endemic growing in a limited number of wooded areas subject to human deforestation and close beside expanding tourist areas, the conservation status of this species is regarded as VU .
Photographic details can be seen on .
Similar plants it might be confused with are Stachys aleurites whorls, the upper ones often close together, flowers that are white with pink markings ; Stachys distans ; and S. pseudobombycina, which was synonymised with S. bombycina by Akçiçek ).