Field woundwort
Stachys arvensis
Family · Lamiaceae · Harmless
The most discreet mint relative of every garden, with pale pink flowers of a few millimetres hidden in the leaf axils. It is in almost every bed in the Peninsula and nobody notices it.
Fields and pasture · Town and roadside · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known asstaggerweed
How to tell it
A small hairy annual with a four-angled stem, often prostrate. Opposite heart-shaped leaves, stalked, with rounded teeth. Pale pink or nearly white flowers three to six millimetres, in whorls of two to six at the axils. It smells of nothing, which is unusual in the family.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
No relevant use. It is worth it as proof that not every mint relative smells: the four-angled stem and opposite leaves still identify the family even when the nose does not help.