Purple phlomis
Phlomis purpurea
Family · Lamiaceae · Harmless
The whitish-grey shrub with purple flowers in crowns, very common in southern Iberian scrub. It shows from afar by the pale tone of its foliage amid the green of the scrub.
Scrubland · Montado · Roadsides and waste ground · Uplands
Also known aspurple Jerusalem sage
How to tell it
Large lance-shaped leaves, grey-green above and white-felted beneath. Purplish pink flowers in separated whorls, the upper lip a hairy helmet. A shrub half a metre to a metre and a half.
What it is confused with
Lampwick plant
Phlomis lychnitis
Flower colour settles it: yellow in lampwick plant, purple in this one. And this one's leaf is much broader.
Open sheet →What it is for
Little direct use. It was a fumigation and poultice plant in southern folk medicine, and is a good spring nectar producer.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.