Betony
Betonica officinalis
Family · Lamiaceae · Harmless
The mountain meadow mint relative with a short dense spike of purple flowers atop an almost bare stem, and a rosette of heart-shaped, deeply wrinkled leaves at the base.
Uplands · Oak woods · Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known aswood betony, purple betony
How to tell it
A basal rosette of long-stalked heart-shaped leaves with a roundly toothed margin and a strongly wrinkled surface. The stem is upright, four-angled, with few leaves and long bare gaps. The inflorescence is a short compact spike of purple or deep pink flowers at the top. Weak scent.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
It was among the most reputed medicinal plants of old Europe, with a whole Roman treatise devoted to it, used for everything from headaches to bites. Traditional use, in the past, and the reputation was far larger than the effect.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.