Teucrium canadense var. occidentale (Gray) McClintock & Epling
Species Image Gallery
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TAXONOMY
 
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Teucrium
 
Species Synonyms: Teucrium canadense ssp. occidentale (Gray) W.A. Weber
Teucrium canadense var. boreale (Bickn.) Shinners
Teucrium canadense ssp. viscidum (Piper) Taylor & MacBryde Teucrium occidentale Gray
Teucrium occidentale var. boreale (Bickn.) Fern.
Teucrium boreale Bickn.
Common Names: hairy germander
American germander
western germander
 
DISTRIBUTION
 
Canada: southern British Columbia, southern Saskatchewan – Manitoba – Ontario – southwestern Quebec
Saskatchewan: southern Saskatchewan; Cypress Lake – Souris River Valley
Ecoregion: Cypress Upland, Mixed Grassland, Moist Mixed Grassland, Aspen Parkland
 
HABITAT
 
Saskatchewan: lake and stream shore flats, prairie depressions
Associated Species: bristle dock, field sow thistle, manyflowered aster, marsh hedgenettle, prairie goldenrod, rough water horehound
 
RARITY STATUS
 
Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):
Threatened
Nature Conservancy Status:
G5T4 S2
Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:
None
COSEWIC Status:
None
 
Hairy germander is threatened in Saskatchewan because it is rare or uncommon. Population sizes vary. No immediate threats are known but are possible in the future.
 
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
 
Height: 30 – 100 cm
Roots: rhizomes, occasionally producing whitish swellings
Stems: simple or sparingly branched, square, hairy
Leaves: opposite, short-stalked, 3 – 12 cm long, 1 – 4 cm wide, oval to lance-shaped, tip acute, base usually wedge-shaped, hairy to hairless above, gray hairy below, margin saw-toothed
Inflorescence: false whorls of pairs of opposite clusters (verticillaster), each with 4 – 6 flowers, arranged in a spike-like cluster; cluster 6 – 20 cm long; bracts lance-shaped to awl-shaped, shorter than or slightly exceeding verticillasters; inflorescences stalks 0 – 1 mm long; flower stalks 1 – 3 mm long
Flowers: sepals nearly regular, 5 – 9 mm long, tube 4 – 7 mm long, 2-lipped, 5-toothed, 10-nerved, purplish, hairy, hairless or weakly hairy within the throat of the tube; petals 10 – 18 mm long, 2-lipped (appearing 1-lipped), upper lip inconspicuous, lower lip 3-lobed, tube 4 – 8 mm long and about equalling sepals, light rose, lavender or purple, glandular outside; stamens 4, arched over the petals
Fruits: nutlets 1.5 – 2.5 mm long, light reddish brown or golden, wrinkled, hairless
 
LAMIACEAE KEY FOR SPECIES FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN
 
1 Sepals 2-lipped, lips not toothed, with a distinct cap on the upper side
Scutellaria
1 Sepals regular or 2-lipped, if 2-lipped, one or more of the lips toothed
2
   
2 Upper lip of petals small and inconspicuous, petals appearing 1-lipped
Teucrium
2 Upper lip of petals well developed, petals appearing 2-lipped
3
   
3 Fertile stamens 2 (infertile stamens may be present)
4
3 Fertile stamens 4
6
 
4 Sepals distinctly 2-lipped
Hedeoma
4 Sepals regular or nearly so, with teeth of nearly equal size
5
 
5 Flowers in axillary clusters; petals regular, < 6 mm long, white
Lycopus
5 Flowers in a terminal, dense head-like cluster; petals 2-lipped, > 10 mm long, pink to purple
Monarda
 
6 All inflorescences appearing axillary, verticillasters (false whorls of pairs of opposite cymes) subtended by foliage leaves
7
6 At least some inflorescences appearing terminal, verticillasters in various arrangements (solitary in head-like clusters or irregular branched inflorescences or numerous in spike-like clusters), some inflorescences may appear axillary
11
 
7 Flowers and fruits sessile
8
7 Flowers and fruits stalked
10
 
8 Stems hairy
Galeopsis
8 Stems hairless
9
 
9 Plants 50 – 150 cm tall; sepal teeth stiff and spiny
Leonurus
9 Plants < 40 cm tall; sepal teeth acuminate, not spiny
Lamium
 
10 Stem creeping; leaves kidney-shaped to nearly round
Glecoma
10 Stem erect or ascending; leaves linear to lance-shaped or oval
Mentha
 
11 Sepals regular
12
11 Sepals 2-lipped
14
 
12 Stamens exserted; seeds with tufts of hairs at the apex
Agastache
12 Stamens included; seeds hairless
13
 
13 Flowers short-stalked, borne singly in the axis of bracts; inflorescence of 1 – several terminal and lateral racemes; sepals faintly nerved, inflated at maturity
Physostegia
13 Flowers sessile, whorled in a continuous or interrupted terminal spike; sepals prominently nerved, not inflated at maturity
Stachys
 
14 Upper and lower sepal lips similar in length; petals white
Nepeta
14 Upper and lower sepal lips distinctly different; petals rose, purple or blue
15
 
15 Upper sepal lobes connate for at least 3/4 of length
Prunella
15 Upper sepals distinctly 3-lobed
Dracocephalum