Irish wildflowers BSBI map

Hybrid Woundwort, Stachys x ambigua
Photographs: Bantry, Co. Cork

Hybrid Woundwort
Stachys x ambigua (Stachys palustris x sylvatica)
Family: Lamiaceae

Flowering time: July-September. Perennial. Native.

A sterile hybrid between Marsh Woundwort, S. palustris and Hedge Woundwort, S. sylvatica.
Very variable but looks like a larger version of Marsh Woundwort, S. palustris with darker red-purple flowers and short upper leaf-stalks. It is more/less sterile with few or no seeds ripening so spreads by fragments of root rhizomes and can frequently grow in the absence of either parent. Identification confirmed by Paul Green, BSBI

Scattered distribution in Ireland on damp ground.

Hybrid Woundwort, Stachys x ambigua

Hybrid Woundwort, Stachys x ambigua
Hybrid Woundwort, Stachys x ambigua (Stachys palustris x sylvatica)

Please Contact me if you find mistakes. All images are copyright.