GAMOPETAL/: 171 
Wounpwort (Stachys sylvatica). 
This is perhaps one of the commonest plants in 
the British Flora, occuring in 108 out of 112 vice- 
counties. 
Every hedge-bottom is lined with this sturdy plant, 
which ousts all the weaklings in its way, and works 
its way to the light from the hedge bottom till it 
towers well above the ditch-bank. 
Not only is it common by the wayside, but also in 
fields, in meadow and pasture alike, usually in a 
hedge, or ditch-bottom. It is also frequently found 
in woods and plantations, here again succeeding in 
the struggle for existence where other less vigorous 
plants have succumbed. 
The underground stem iscreeping and stoloniferous, 
hence the wide-spreading character of the plant. The 
stem is rigid, erect, solid, quadrangular, hispid, and 
may be simple or branched. 
It reaches a height of 2 or even 3 ft. The stem- 
leaves. are on long petioles; the root-leaves wither 
early. They are ovate, cordate, serrate, the surface 
downy and the petioles are longer than the leaves, 
which, as in all labiates, are opposite. 
The flowers are in whorls of six to twelve in a 
long spike, hairy and glandular. 
They are dull purplish-red, the lower lip having 
white spots which render it more conspicuous. The 
lower bracts are serrate. The spike is long and 
interrupted. The bracts are leafy. The upper are 
