Sideritis tragoriganum

Sideritis tragoriganum is a compact, woody-based perennial subshrub of the mint family Lamiaceae and one of the Iberian representatives of the largely Mediterranean genus Sideritis, the so-called ironworts or mountain teas. The plant forms a small, drought-adapted bush typically 15 to 40 cm tall, with quadrangular stems clothed in soft white tomentum and bearing small, sessile, oblong to oblanceolate leaves whose felted indument and crenate margins are characteristic of the genus. In late spring and summer it produces terminal interrupted spikes of pale yellow, two-lipped tubular flowers subtended by broad, often spine-tipped floral bracts. Each calyx is bell-shaped with five pungent teeth, persisting around the four nutlets at maturity. The species is endemic to the eastern Iberian Peninsula, where it grows on dry, sunny, calcareous slopes, rocky outcrops and garrigue scrub. Like other ironworts, its aromatic flowering shoots are gathered locally for use as a herbal tea.