Description
Ballota –
There are about 35 species of clump or mat forming perennials and evergreen or deciduous subshrubs, in this genus. They occur from rocky and waste ground in the Mediterranean, Europe and Western Asia. The leaves are opposite mostly round3ed and bluntly toothed and aromatic sometimes unpleasantly so. From leafy spikes it bears whorls of small, 2 lipped flowers, often with prominent, star shaped calyces. Was used in folk medicine. Grow in a sunny border and rockeries.
Grow in poor, dry, well drained soil in full sun. Cut back subshrubs in spring to keep compact. Divide perennials in spring.
B. pseudodictamnus – This mound forming, evergreen subshrub from Greece, Crete, Western Turkey and Libya grows 18″ tall and 24″ wide. It produces ovate, yellowish gray green leaves to 1 1/4″ long, on sparsely branched, erect woody based white woolly stems. In late spring and early summer it bears tubular 2 lipped, white or pinkish white flowers, ½” long, with pale green calyces, 1/3″ wide.
Zones 7-10
