MINT FAMILY LABIATAE 
WOUNDWORT. HEDGE NETTLE 
Stachys palustris L. 
The Woundwort or Hedge Nettle is a hairy herb of the Mint 
family that extends across the continent but does not go far to 
the south. It occurs south to Union county and is common in 
wet soil in open places in the 
Wy middle and northern parts of 
Illinois. Moist places along 
railroads are favorite spots, 
where it may be conspicuous 
in large patches. Formerly it 
DM YS, was much used in medicine. 
Ny ‘ wy : 
LAR The square stem of this 
( ff perennial is 1-4 feet high, 
Dg ; rather slender, and the hairs 
. DOS on its angles are longer than 
{ - 
elsewhere and point down- 
Cs UCL ol ~-~ ward. The leaves are rather 
; H i 7 firm and sometimes the lower 
a if en. have short petioles. 
WW Blooming from June to 
' September, the plant pro- 
duces 6-10 purple or pale red 
| € flowers in each of a number 
of whorls above the upper- 
most foliage leaves, sometimes also in the upper axils. The calyx 
is bell shaped and nearly equally 5-toothed. The corolla is 
strongly 2-lipped; the erect upper lip is entire, concave and some- 
what hairy outside, and the lower is spreading and 3-lobed. The 
4 stamens, in pairs of unequal length, are under the upper lip of 
the corolla. The ovary is deeply 4-lobed and the style is 2-cleft 
at the top. 
The Light-green Hedge Nettle, Stachys cordata Riddell, is found 
on rich bottomlands throughout Illinois. It is paler green in leaves 
and stem, 24-32 inches high and very hairy. Leaf petioles are as 
long as the blades, which are 6 inches in length, 3 inches wide, 
heart shaped, pinnately veined and serrate. The pink-purple flowers 
are much like those of Woundwort, but in interrupted spikes that 
blossom in July and August. The plant lives in woods and thickets — 
from New York to Oregon, south to North Carolina and Illinois. 
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