Species: Teucrium canadense var. occidentale (Gray) McClintock & Epling

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Teucrium canadense var. occidentale (Gray) McClintock & Epling

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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:

Lycopus asper, Mentha arvensis, Oligoneuron album, Rumex maritimus, Sonchus arvensis, Stachys palustris, Symphyotrichum ericoides var. pansum

RARITY STATUS

Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):

Threatened

Nature Conservancy Status:

G5T4 S2

Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:

None

COSEWIC Status:

None

Teucrium canadense var. occidentale 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 tubers

Stems:

simple or sparingly branched, square, villose to spreading pilose

Leaves:

decussate, short-petiolate, 3 – 12 cm long, 1 – 4 cm wide, ovate to lanceolate, apex acute, base usually cuneate, pilose to glabrous above, canescent above, margin serrate

Inflorescence:

false whorls of pairs of opposite cymes (verticillaster), each with 4 – 6 flowers, arranged in a spike-like cluster; cluster 6 – 20 cm long; bracts lanceolate to subulate, shorter than or slightly exceeding verticillasters; peduncles 0 – 1 mm long; pedicels 1 – 3 mm long

Flowers:

calyx nearly regular, 5 – 9 mm long, tube 4 – 7 mm long, bilabiate, 5-toothed, 10-nerved, purplish, hairy, glabrous or weakly hirsute within the throat of the tube; corolla 10 – 18 mm long, bilabiate (appearing one-lipped), upper lip inconspicuous, lower lip 3-lobed, tube 4 – 8 mm long and about equalling calyx, light rose, lavender or purple, glandular outside; stamens 4, arched over the corolla

Fruits:

nutlets 1.5 – 2.5 mm long, light reddish-brown or golden, rugose, glabrous

LAMIACEAE KEY FOR SPECIES FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN

1 Calyx bilabiate, lips not toothed, with a distinct cap on the upper side	Scutellaria
1 Calyx regular or bilabiate, if bilabiate, one or more of the lips toothed	2

2 Upper lip of corolla small and inconspicuous, corolla appearing 1-lipped	Teucrium
2 Upper lip of corolla well developed, corolla appearing 2-lipped	3

3 Fertile stamens 2 (staminodes may be present)	4
3 Fertile stamens 4	6

4 Calyx distinctly bilabiate	Hedeoma
4 Calyx regular or nearly so, with teeth of nearly equal size	5

5 Flowers in axillary clusters; corolla regular, < 6 mm long, white	Lycopus
5 Flowers in a terminal, dense head-like cluster; corolla bilabiate, > 10 mm long, pink to purple	Monarda

6 All inflorescences appearing axillary, verticillasters (false whorls of pairs of opposite cymes) subtended by leaves	7
6 At least some inflorescences appearing terminal, verticillasters in various arrangements (solitary in glomerules or irregular cymes or numerous in spicate clusters), some inflorescences may appear axillary	11

7 Flowers and fruits sessile	8
7 Flowers and fruits pedicellate	10

8 Stems hirsute	Galeopsis
8 Stems glabrous	9

9 Plants 50 – 150 cm tall; calyx teeth stiff and spiny	Leonurus
9 Plants < 40 cm tall; calyx teeth acuminate, not spiny	Lamium

10 Stem prostrate and creeping; leaves reniform to suborbicular	Glecoma
10 Stem erect or ascending; leaves linear to lanceolate or ovate	Mentha

11 Calyx regular	12
11 Calyx bilabiate	14

12 Stamens exserted; seeds with tufts of hairs at the apex	Agastache
12 Stamens included; seeds glabrous	13

13 Flowers short-pedicellate, borne singly in the axis of bracts; inflorescence of 1 – several terminal and lateral racemes; calyx faintly nerved, inflated at maturity	Physostegia
13 Flowers sessile, whorled in a continuous or interrupted terminal spike; calyx prominently nerved, not inflated at maturity	Stachys

14 Upper and lower calyx lips similar in length; corolla white	Nepeta
14 Upper and lower calyx lips distinctly different; corolla rose, purple or blue	15

15 Upper calyx lobes connate for at least 3/4 of length	Prunella
15 Upper calyx distinctly 3-lobed	Dracocephalum