Betony - Stachys officinalis

Alternative names
Betonica officinalis
Description

Short to tall softly hairy plant with erect stems and persistent basal leaf rosettes. Leaves oblong to oval, coarsely toothed, the uppermost unstalked. Flowers usually bright reddish purple 12 to 18 mm long the whorls forming a dense oblong spike.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Permanent grassland, heaths and woodland edge.

When to see it

June to October.

Life History

Perennial

UK Status

Fairly frequent over much of Britain, but scarce in most of Scotland and East Anglia.

VC55 Status

Fairly frequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 172 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Betony
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Lamiales
Family:
Lamiaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
128
First record:
25/07/2010 (Calow, Graham)
Last record:
03/08/2023 (Willis, Jill)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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