Japanese name: ヤブチョロギ Scientific name:Stachys arvensis
[Overview]
A biennial 10–40 cm tall, found along roadsides and in fields.
The stem is square in cross section, branches from the base, and is hairy.
Leaves are simple and opposite, ovate-elliptic, about 1.5–3.5 cm long, with rounded tips; the upper surface is depressed along the veins and sparsely hairy.
The leaf margins have rounded serrations.
Leaves on the lower part of the stem have petioles, while those on the upper part are sessile.
The flowers grow several at a time in the upper leaf axils and are pale pink and two-lipped.
The calyx is 5-lobed with needle-like lobe tips, and is often tinged reddish purple, like the leaves.
The fruit is a schizocarp.
[History]
It has been confirmed as naturalized from western Honshu to the Ryukyu Islands.
