Betony

Stachys officinalis (betony, wood betony; sometimes placed in Betonica) is a rhizomatous, patch-forming herbaceous perennial in the mint family (Lamiaceae), reaching 30–60 cm in height. From the slowly creeping rhizome arises a basal rosette of long-petioled, narrowly oval leaves with a heart-shaped base, deeply wrinkled surface, and coarsely toothed margins; the upright square stems bear smaller, shorter-stalked leaves and terminate in dense, oblong spike-like inflorescences of two-lipped reddish-purple to magenta flowers from July to September. Each calyx is 5–7 mm long with five bristle-tipped teeth and the corolla 10–15 mm long with a flat, nearly straight upper lip and projecting anthers. The fruit is a small dry nutlet enclosed within the persistent calyx. Native to Europe, western Asia, and northern Africa, betony grows in dry grasslands, hedge banks, open woodland, and heathy meadows, common throughout England and Wales but scarcer in Scotland and Ireland.