Virginia water horehound is a native perennial mint-family herb of wet eastern North American ground, valued in wild and naturalistic gardens. It grows best with consistently moist soil or shallow standing water.
Family
Lamiaceae (Mint family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Keep the soil consistently moist, or grow the plant in shallow water at the edge of a pond.
Soil
Moist, fertile loam or clay-loam; tolerates wet ground.
Temperature
Hardy in cold winters; roughly -30 to 35 °C.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Toxic
Native range
C. & E. U.S.A.
Climate
temperate
About
Lycopus virginicus is a species of flowering plant in the mint family known by many common names, including Virginia water horehound, American water hoarhound, sweet bugleweed, water bugle, carpenter's herb, green archangel, purple archangel, wolf foot, and Egyptian's herb. It is native to North America, where it is widespread in eastern Canada and the eastern United States.
This is a perennial herb with a hairy, squared stem reaching a meter tall. The oppositely arranged leaves have oval to lance-shaped blades with toothed edges. The leaves are dark green or purple. Clusters of tiny white or pink-tinged flowers occur in the leaf axils. The plant has a mint scent and a bitter taste. This species can be easily confused with Lycopus uniflorus. The latter has stamens exserted from the flowers, while the stamens of L. virginicus are included.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lycopus virginicus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.