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Marrubium

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Genus of flowering plants For the ancient city in Italy called Marrubium, see San Benedetto dei Marsi.

Horehound
Foliage of Marrubium rotundifolia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Subfamily: Lamioideae
Genus: Marrubium
L.
Synonyms
  • Padota Adans.
  • Atirbesia Raf.
  • Maropsis Pomel

Marrubium (horehound or hoarhound) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae, native to temperate regions of Europe, North Africa, and Asia as far east as the Xinjiang region of western China. A few species are also naturalized in North and South America.

Species

The genus name Marrubium derives from the Latin word marrubii, meaning horehound. The French Talmudic exegete, Rashi, thinks that this herb may have been used as one of the bitter herbs on the night of Passover. The common English name horehound is of unknown origin, but with the first part 'hore' derived from "hoary", "hairy".

The species formerly classified as Marrubium nigrum (Black Horehound) is now placed in the genus Ballota.

Marrubium species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora lineolea.

References

  1. ^ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. Flora of ChinaVol. 17 Page 104 欧夏至草属 ou xia zhi cao shu Marrubium Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 582. 1753.
  3. Altervista Flora Italiana, genere Marrubium includes distribution maps for Europe and North America
  4. Biota of North America Program, 2013 county distribution map
  5. Sefer Targum Ha-La'az (ed. Yisroel Gukovitzky), London 1992, p. 68 (entry no. 1000e)
Taxon identifiers
Marrubium
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