Marrubium vulgare L., Lamiaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Threat only at high elevations?  no

Risk assessment results:  Reject, score: 15 (Go to the risk assessment)

Common name(s): [more details]

English: common horehound, horehound, white horehound

French: marrube blanc, marrube vulgaire

Spanish: marrubio común

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Perennial herbs from a stout taproot; stems usually several, ascending to nearly erect, 3-10 dm long, conspicuously white woolly  pubescent.  Leaves elliptic to ovate-orbicular, 3-7 cm long, 1-4 cm wide, white woolly pubescent, especially on lower surface, margins crenate-dentate, apex obtuse to rounded, base very broadly cuneate to truncate or subcordate, petioles 1-2 cm long. Flowers in compact, axillary verticillasters; calyx cylindrical, 4-5 mm long, 10-toothed, the teeth more or less recurved, subequal; corolla bilabiate, white, 5-6 mm long, upper lip erect, entire or slightly 2-lobed, lower lip 3-lobed, median lobe usually emarginate. Nutlets ovoid, ca. 2 mm long, smooth" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 806).

Habitat/ecology:  In Hawai‘i, "naturalized and locally common in dry, disturbed sites, 150-1,920 m" (Wagner et al., 1999; p. 806). In New Caledonia, "mauvaise herbe peu commune" (MacKee, 1994; p. 69).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Eurasia.

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) Norfolk Islands	Norfolk Island	introduced invasive	Orchard, Anthony E., ed. (1994) (p. 9) "A widespread weed of overgrazed pastures and waste ground". Vouchers cited: W.G. Milne 6 (K); I. Robinson 119 (NSW); 1902, J.H. Maiden & J.L. Boorman (NSW)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawai‘i (Big) Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 806)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Lāna‘i Island	introduced invasive	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 806) Voucher cited: Forbes 289.L (BISH)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	Tassin, Jacques (2005)
New Caledonia New Caledonia Archipelago	Île Grande Terre	introduced invasive	MacKee, H. S. (1994) (p. 69) Voucher cited: MacKee 40851

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
Australia Australia (continental)	Australia (continental)	introduced	U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. (2008)
Chile (continental) Chile	Chile (Republic of)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 228)
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 776) "Open, dry pastures, rocky ground and disturbed sites such as roadsides, railways, heaps of spoil, waste places". Rarely cultivated.

Control: 

Physical:  "In fire adapted communities, prescribed burning is used to kill palnts and to reduce the soil seed bank.  Follow-up programs are necessary to treat seedlings".

Chemical:  "An effective herbicide is 2,4-D ester"  (Weber, 2003; p. 256).

Additional information:
Best Practice Management Guide from the CRC for Australian Weed Management (PDF format).

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

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

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

References:

Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 391 pp.

MacKee, H. S. 1994. Catalogue des plantes introduites et cultivées en Nouvelle-Calédonie. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 164 p.

Orchard, Anthony E., ed. 1994. Flora of Australia. Vol. 49, Oceanic islands 1. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.

Swarbrick, John T. 1997. Weeds of the Pacific Islands. Technical paper no. 209. South Pacific Commission, Noumea, New Caledonia. 124 pp.

Tassin, Jacques. 2005. Jacques Tassin (IAC-CIRAD), personal communication.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2008. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

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.

Weber, Ewald. 2003. Invasive plants of the World. CABI Publishing, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. 548 pp.