Lamium amplexicaule L., Lamiaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  yes

Risk assessment results:  Reject, score: 18 (Go to the risk assessment).

Common name(s): [more details]

Chinese: bao gai cao

English: common henbit, giraffehead, henbit, henbit dead-nettle

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Annual herbs to 3-4 dm tall, from a taproot.  Leaves orbicular to ovate-orbicular, 0.7-2.5 (-4) cm long and about as wide, inconspicuously hirsute, strigose, or subglabrous; margins crenate or lobed, subsessile.  Flowers sometimes cleistogamous, in relatively few verticillasters, these usually widely spaced; calyx 5-8 mm long, hirsute, lobes about as long as tube; corolla pinkish purple, 12-20 mm long, upper lip 4-5.5 mm long, entire, lower lip obcordate, ca. 4 mm long, lateral lobes minute, linear; anthers pubescent"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 802).

"Herbs annual or biennial. Stems to 30 cm, much branched at base, ascending, subglabrous. Upper leaves sessile; petiole of basal leaves at least as long as blade; leaf blade circular to reniform, 1-2 x 0.7-1.5 cm, sparsely strigose, base truncate to broadly truncate-cuneate, semi-clasping, margin deeply crenate to almost palmately lobed, apex rounded. Verticillasters 6-10-flowered; bracts ca. 4 x 0.3 mm, ciliate. Calyx tubular-campanulate, 4-5 x 1.7-2 mm, densely villous, glabrous except for white villous apically inside; teeth lanceolate-subulate, 1.5-2 mm, margin ciliate. Corolla purple-red or reddish, ca. 1.7 cm, puberulent; tube ca. 1.3 cm, throat ca. 3 mm wide, annulus absent; upper lip densely purple-red pubescent on outside, straight, oblong, ca. 4 mm, apex slightly curved; lower lip slightly longer; middle lobe obcordate, 2-lobulate. Filaments glabrous; anthers hirsute. Nutlets grayish yellow, obovoid, triquetrous, constricted at base, ca. 2 x 1 mm, white tuberculate"  (Flora of China online).

Habitat/ecology:  In New Zealand, "waste places such as roadsides, railway yards and building sites, also on arable land"  (Webb et al., 1988; p. 772).  In China, "roadsides, forest margins, marshes, sometimes weed in fields; 0-4000 m"  (Flora of China online).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  "Native to Eurasia and northern Africa, widely but sparingly naturalized elsewhere"  (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 802).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia (Pacific offshore islands) Lord Howe Island	Lord Howe Island	introduced invasive	Australian Biological Resources Study (2011)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Maui Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 802) Voucher cited: R. Nagata 82-4 (HLA)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Moloka‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wysong, Michael/Hughes, Guy/Wood, K. R. (2007) (p. 5) Voucher cited: K.R. Wood & Hughes 10599 (PTBG)
Japan (offshore islands) Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands		Toyoda, Takeshi (2003)
Japan (offshore islands) Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands	native	Kato, Hidetoshi (2007)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Canada Province of British Columbia	Canada (British Columbia)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
Canada Canada	Canada (country)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)	introduced invasive	Belov, Michail (2011)
China China	China (People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
North Korea North Korea	North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
South Korea South Korea	South Korea (Republic of)	native	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2011)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 772)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Oregon)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (California)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
United States (west coast) United States (west coast states)	USA (Washington)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Also reported from
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	United States (other states)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)
United States (continental except west coast) United States (other states)	USA (Florida)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. (2011)

Additional information:
Information and additional photos from Missouri Plants.
Information and additional photos from Virginia Tech.
Information from the University of California.
Photos and other information from Chileflora.

Additional online information about Lamium amplexicaule is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Lamium amplexicaule as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Lamium amplexicaule may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Australian Biological Resources Study. 2011. Flora of Australia Online. Australian Biological Resources Study, Canberra.

Belov, Michail. 2011. Chileflora (online resource).

Kato, Hidetoshi. 2007. Herbarium records of Makino Herbarium, Tokyo Metropolitan University. Personal communication.

Toyoda, Takeshi. 2003. Flora of the Bonin Islands. Aboc & Co. 522 pp.

U. S. Government. 2011. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) (on-line resource).

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Nat. Res. Cons. Serv. 2011. The PLANTS Database. National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.

Wysong, Michael/Hughes, Guy/Wood, K. R. 2007. New Hawaiian plant records for the island of Moloka‘i. In: Evenhuis, Neal L. and Eldredge, Lucias G., eds. Records of the Hawaii Biological Survey for 2006. Part 2: Notes. Bishop Museum Occasional Papers 96:1-8.

Zhengyi, Wu/Raven, Peter H./Deyuan, Hong. 2011. Flora of China (online resource).