I’M A WEED

Horehound weed

Horehound

Marrubium vulgare

Bushy, perennial plant, 0.3-0.8 m high, sharply aromatic when crushed, covered with dense whitish hairs. Stems are four-sided, stout, branched, densely hairy, and woody at the base.
Leaves grow opposite each other along the stems, oval to round, 1-3 cm diameter, wrinkled, upper surface
blue-green, lower surface white-woolly.

Veins are sunken on upper surface and prominent beneath. Flowers are white, 0.6-1 cm long, in
dense clusters around the stems, from September to March. Flowers dry to form brown burrs with small hooked spines.

Threat / Problem
• Invades disturbed native vegetation.

Spread
• Burr containing seeds readily attaches to wool, fur, clothing and similar materials.

Control
• Spot spray. Best in Autumn and Spring, as an immature plant before flowering.
• Biological control may be appropriate – NRM Officer can advise.

Horehound weed

GROW ME INSTEAD

Velvet Bush

Velvet Bush

Lasiopetalum discolor

Shrubs up to 1 m high with woolly brown stems. Leaves are stiff, leathery, broadly oblong with recurved (rolled under) margins, 2-8 cm long by 1.5-5 cm wide. The upper surface is dark green and the
underside pale grey and densely covered with star-shaped hairs. Pale pink, mauve or white, star-shaped flowers form a dense, sometimes pendulous head of ten or more, crowded at the ends of the branches
from June to December. Fruit is an elongated spherical hairy capsule, 0.3-0.4 cm in diameter. Masses of pink flowers make an attractive display. Good plant for limestone soils.

Velvet Bush