Perennial yellow-woundwort

Stachys recta, the perennial yellow-woundwort, is a hemicryptophyte herb in the mint family (Lamiaceae) with overwintering buds situated just below the soil surface. Plants typically reach 20–40 cm in height, producing strong simple or branched stems covered in slightly rough glandular hairs. The opposite leaves are ovate-spatulate to oblong-lanceolate, 3–5 cm long and 0.5–2 cm wide, with toothed margins and long petioles. Yellowish-white flowers, often stained with purple or brown spots, are gathered in dense terminal spikes with calyces 5–10 mm long; they are hermaphrodite and insect-pollinated, blooming from July through October. The fruits are smooth, rounded, chestnut-brown achenes about 2 mm long. A sub-Mediterranean species, it occurs widely from Europe to the Caucasus and Asia Minor, growing on calcareous, moderately dry soils in grasslands, rocky hillsides, and lawns at elevations from sea level to 2,100 m.