Stachys tysonii
Stachys tysonii is a species of hedgenettle found in South Africa and Lesotho.
Description
It is a perennial herb tall, with few to several erect stems that often arise from a spreading base. The stems are sparsely branched and covered with both long, fine hairs and short gland-tipped hairs.The leaves are borne on short stalks and are ovate to lanceolate, long. They usually have a deeply heart-shaped base, a rounded tip, and evenly scalloped to finely toothed margins. The upper surface is softly to stiffly hairy, while the downy underside typically shows numerous small gland dots.
The flowers are arranged in a spike that is loose near the base and denser towards the tip, with 4–6 flowers per whorl. The flowers are whitish to mauve. The calyx is glandular and hairy, and the two-lipped corolla has an upright upper lip and a downward-curving lower lip marked with darker flecks.
S. tysonii flowers from January to April.
Identification
It is closely related to S. obtusifolia, and the limits between the two are not yet entirely clear. However, S. tysonii can be distinguished by its longer petioles and more oblongcordate-based leaves, which are softly downy and freely gland-dotted underneath.