Teucrium canadense L. var. canadense

American Germander; Wood Sage

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

American Germander is a native herbaceous perennial in the Mint family (Lamiaceae). It can be found throughout much of Alabama. American Germander grows on the banks of ponds and lakes, along streams and rivers, in marshes and sloughs, and in wet roadside ditches. It is a colonial species with elongate, spreading rhizomes. The stems are erect, usually unbranched, green in color, 1-3 feet in height, 4-angled, and pubescent. Leaves are opposite, petiolate or nearly sessile, lanceolate to ovate in outline, deeply veined, with serrate margins. The leaves are pubescent, especially on the lower surface and aromatic when crushed. Flowers are produced in a dense terminal raceme. Flowers are 2-6 per node and subtended by small leaf-like bracts. The calyx is 5-lobed with the lobes shorter than the tube, and usually densely pubescent. The corolla is zygomorphic with the lower lip large and prominent and the upper lip appearing absent. The lower lip is 5-lobed with 2 pairs of small lateral lobes arched upward and the larger central lobe bent downward. Flowers range in color from pink-purple to pale lavender or almost white with darker spots on the lower lip. The fruit is a schizocarp with 4 nutlets. American Germander attracts a variety of native insects, especially bees. Native Americans used the leaves to make medicinal teas. Leaves were also steeped in water for use in healing sores and ulcers. American Germander is easily grown in moist, fertile soils. It prefers full sun, but will tolerate light shade. Plants are deer resistant, but can spread aggressively. It can be purchased from some native plant nurseries or grown from seed or divisions.—A. Diamond.

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Native

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