Wound-Wort: From the Plant and Flower Alphabet
GRANITE BAY DESIGN PLANT & FLOWER ALPHABET
As with other members of the Stachys genus, the solid stems of Hedge Woundwort have a square cross section, and they may be either unbranched or very occasionally branched. The stems are more noticeably hairy in the upper region of the plant, and there are nodes widely spaced along the stem.
From each node emerges a pair of opposite stalked hairy leaves; these are an elongated heart shape and toothed rather like the leaves of Stinging Nettle. (When it is not in flower, it is all too easy to mistake Hedge Woundwort for a nettle – and vice versa!; however, the leaves of Stachys species do not sting.) There is no rosette of basal leaves.
Engravings from “Handbook of Plant and Floral Ornament from Early Herbals” by Richard G. Hatton (Originally published in 1909).
Plant descriptions primarily from Wikipedia.
