German hedgenettle

Appearance

Flower bilaterally symmetrica lwith petal color pink to red. There are five petals, sepals, or tepals in the flower. The petals or the sepals are fused into a cup or tube. Each flower has 4 stamens.
The fruit is dry but does not split open when ripe
The leaves are simple (i.e., lobed or unlobed but not separated into leaflets). Leaf arrangement is opposite: there are two leaves per node along the stem. The edge of the leaf blade has teeth.

Distribution

Central and Southern Europe, including Britain, to N. Africa and the Orient.

Status

The main threat to Stachys germanica is now lack of disturbance; many old sites have become neglected and overgrown. The seedlings of the downy woundwort become crowded out by grasses and shaded out by expanding untidy hedgerows. Occasionally, seeds have been stripped from plants by wood mice and bank voles.

Behavior

It flowers from July onwards, sometimes into the autumn. Tall, multistemmed plants produce the most flowers, and the amount of seed set is highest where bumblebees are numerous and most active.

The seeds are able to remain dormant for a long period, and the plant can return to areas from which it has been absent for some time after hedges are cut back or the ground is disturbed.

Habitat

Pastures and hedgebanks, especially on limestone soils.
The species requires a level of soil disturbance so that the heavy seeds may germinate during the temporary reprise from more aggressive competitors, and it has benefited from scrub clearance, two to three year rotovating, verge cutting and even a stubble fire.

Reproduction

It is in flower from July to August, and the seeds ripen from August to October. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs) and is pollinated by bees.

Uses

The leaves are densely covered with long white silky hairs, they have been used as a substitute for lint in dressing wounds. The thick, lint-like leaves are both soft and strongly antiseptic.