Ballota

For the parish in northern Spain, see Ballota (Cudillero).

Horehound
Ballota nigra
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Subfamily: Lamioideae
Genus: Ballota
L.
Type species
Ballota nigra

Ballota (horehound) is a genus of flowering evergreen perennial plants and subshrubs in the family Lamiaceae. native to temperate regions. The Mediterranean region has the highest diversity in the genus, with more isolated locations in South Africa, Central Asia, northern Europe, and the islands of the eastern North Atlantic.[1][2] It is found in rocky and waste ground.[3]

Ballota is paraphyletic and will eventually be re-circumscribed. It is closely related to Moluccella and Marrubium.[4] Some of its species had previously been placed in Marrubium. Other species have already been split to Pseudodictamnus

Ballota species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera including Coleophora case-bearers: C. ballotella, C. lineolea (which has been recorded on B. nigra) and C. ochripennella.

Species[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. ^ Altervista Flora Italiana, Genere Ballota
  3. ^ RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN 978-1405332965.
  4. ^ Anne-Cathrine Scheen, Mika Bendiksby, Olof Ryding, Cecilie Mathiesen, Victor A. Albert, and Charlotte Lindqvist. 2010. "Molecular Phylogenetics, Character Evolution, and Suprageneric Classification of Lamioideae (Lamiaceae)". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 97(2):191-217. doi:10.3417/2007174