Ballota hirsuta Benth.
Spa.: Marrubio peloso, manrrubio rojo, marrubio verde, flor rubí. Fre.: Marrube velu. Ara.: Moruta, merherui, maghrui. Tam.: Timersat, ufis, aferekku, afarghaqqu.
Subshrub, evergreen, hermaphrodite, up to 1(1.5) m in height, greyish (due to being very hairy), highly branched. Stems somewhat woody at the base, herbaceous in the middle and upper parts, erect. Branchlets herbaceous, erect or pendulous, hirsute, covered with simple and stellate hairs, some glandular. Leaves (2-6 × 0.7-3.5 cm) opposite, ovate or suborbicular, obtuse, with truncated or cordate base, margin with wide, obtuse and shallow teeth, rugose and villous on both sides, light green or whitish-green on the upper side, slightly lighter on the underside. Inflorescence in dense verticillasters (false verticils). Calyx irregular, very open, almost in the shape of a star, with 10 or more teeth widened so as to form a structure in the shape of a crater. Corolla 14-16 mm, reddish-purple (rarely whitish), hirsute, bilabiate; the upper lip ending in 2 elongated lobules, and the lower lip with 3 lobules, with a central larger lobule. Stamens 4, longer than the corolla tube. Fruit very small, dry, dark, consisting of 4 nutlets (frequently 1-3 due to poor development of 1 nutlet), included in the persistent calyx. 2n = 22, 28, 30
Flowering:
March to October (November).
Fruiting:
About 2 months after flowering.
Habitat:
Clearings in forests, thickets, edges, etc., on very diverse terrain, often ruderal, from sea level to about 1,600 m in altitude. From semiarid to humid bioclimate, on inframediterranean to mesomediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Western Mediterranean region. In North Africa, in the Mediterranean areas of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, reaching the Sahara to the S.
Observations:
Highly polymorphic species of which several subspecies have been described. Currently the most accepted (Dobignard & Chatelain, 2012) in North Africa are: subsp. hirsuta, the most widely distributed (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia); subsp. intermedia (Batt.) Patzak, in Morocco and Algeria; subsp. maroccana (Murb.) Patzak, with mainly characteristic stellate-fasciculated hairs on the stems (in other subspecies simple hairs dominate), in Morocco and Algeria; and subsp. saharica (Diels) Greuter & Burdet, endemic to the Algerian Sahara.
There is another species with a fair size up to 1(1.2) m distributed in North Africa, B. nigra L., with darker and less villous foliage, with a regular calyx with only 5 lobes. It is less common than the previous species, but can also be found in most of the Mediterranean region, from Morocco to Tunisia.
Conservation status:
Fairly common and widespread species. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.