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Lamium album L.

2684 (3). L. album L., Sp. Pl, ed. 1 (1753) 579; Hayek, Prodr. Fl. Penins. Balc., II (1929) 273; Ball, FL Eur., III (1972) 148 — Бяла мъртва коприва

Fam: Labiatae Juss. (Lamiaceae)
Genus: Lamium L.
Species: Lamium album L.
English Name: White nettle or White dead-nettle

Description:

Perennial plant. The root horizontally creeping, with long underground shoots from which flowering stems develop. Stem 20 - 50 (-80) cm high, upright or upward, usually branched, less often branched, from the middle upwards with rare to dense, short, spreading hairs to the base most often almost naked and violet-colored. Leaves 1.5 - 3 cm long, ovate or oblong ovoid, (2.5-) 4 - 7 (-12) cm long and (1-) 2 - 4 (-5) cm wide, at the base heart-shaped, to the tip long pointed, roughly serrated to a dull, jagged, on both sides with rare hairs, all green without whitish stripes; upper leaves with shorter stems and longer tapered. Blossoms 2 - 2.5 cm long, seated, 3 - 6 in diasis, forming 6- to 16-flower false vertebrae in the bosom of the upper leaves. The bracts linear, tapered. The calyx 9 - 13 (-15) mm long, bell-shaped, with rare hairs, to the base sometimes violet to black colored; the teeth are the same, long, stylet pointed, long as the tube or a little longer, after blossoming star-spreading. Corolla (18-) 20 - 25 mm long, white or pale yellowish white; the corolla tube 9 - 14 mm long, almost as long as the calyx or slightly longer than it, toward the opening gradually curved and funnel-widened, inside with a larger ring of hairs; the upper lip 7 - 12 mm long, arc-curved, strongly hollow concave, whole or with round teeth, outwardly densely covered with mossy hairs and along the edge with long cilia; the lower lip about 5 mm, the 3-part with short sides with 2 - 3 small teeth and a much wider, backward heart-shaped 2-part middle part, sometimes in the base spot, olive greenish-colored. Dark purple or black purple or white-purple. The walnuts are pyramidally three-wall, 4 - 5 long, finely bearded, olive green to gray with a large white seamstress.

Business significance. Medicinal plant using flowers (Flores Lamii albi) and leaves (Folia Lamii albi). Contains flavonoids (laminoside, quercerimetryn, isocvertirine), iridoid glycosides (laminoid), saponins, tannins, mucus, biogenic amines. It is mainly used as a haemostatic, uterine and general tonic. It also has anti-inflammatory and soothing central nervous system action.

From: „Флора на Н Р България”, том IX, БАН, София, (1989)

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Lamium album, commonly called white nettle or white dead-nettle,[1] is a flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native throughout Europe and Asia, growing in a variety of habitats from open grassland to woodland, generally on moist, fertile soils.

Description

L. album is an herbaceous perennial plant growing to 50–100 cm (20–39 in) tall, with green, four-angled stems. The leaves are 3–8 cm (1.2–3.1 in) long and 2–5 cm (0.79–1.97 in) broad, triangular with a rounded base, softly hairy, and with a serrated margin and a petiole up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long; like many other members of the Lamiaceae, they appear superficially similar to those of the Stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) but do not sting, hence the common name "dead-nettle". The flowers are white, produced in whorls ('verticillasters') on the upper part of the stem, the individual flowers 1.5–2.5 cm (0.59–0.98 in) long. The flowers are visited by many types of insects, but mostly by bees.[2]

Distribution

L. album is native to Eurasia, from Ireland in the West to Japan in the East. It occurs as two subspecies, subsp. album in the western range and subsp. barbatum in the far east of mainland Asia and in Japan.[3] It is common in England, rare in the west, and in north Scotland and introduced in eastern Ireland.[4]

Cultivation and uses

L. album was introduced to North America, where it is widely naturalized. The young leaves are edible, and can be used in salads or cooked as a vegetable.
Bees, especially bumble bees are attracted to the flowers which are a good source of early nectar and pollen, hence the plant is sometimes called the bee nettle.[5]

Habitat

In the British Isles L. album is found on roadsides, around hedges, and in waste-places.[6][7]

Chemistry

Two phenylpropanoid glycosides, lamalboside (2R-galactosylacteoside) and acteoside, the flavonol p-coumaroylglucoside, tiliroside, 5-caffeoylquinic acid (chlorogenic acid), along with rutoside and quercetin and kaempferol 3-O-glucosides can be isolated from the flowers of L. album.[8] The plant also contains the iridoid glycosides lamalbid, alboside A and B, and caryoptoside [9] as well as the hemiterpene glucoside hemialboside.[10]
L.album was a favorite source of chlorophyll and other plant pigments for Mikhail Tsvet, the inventor of adsorption chromatography.[11]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Flowering Time:
References: „Флора на Н Р България”, том IX, БАН, София, (1989), Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Distribution in Bulgaria: Grow in wet grassy places, out of bushes and forests, gardens and fences. Sofia (Dragalevtsi, Boyana), Vitosha, Znepole region (Breznishko, Kyustendil), Struma valley (Blagoevgrad). It is also indicated for a number of other areas from which herbarium specimens are not kept. These messages are most likely to refer to Lamium maculatum L. white molds. (Conspectus of the Bulgarian Vascular Flora) = conspectus&gs_l= Zlc.

Distribution: Europe (relatively less in the south) Southwest Asia, Siberia.

Conservation status and threats: not protected species in Bulgaria by the Biodiversity Law. - Biological Diversity Act - http://eea.government.bg/bg/legislation/biodiversity/zbran_22.08.15.pdf

Medical plant: nom it is not - Medicinal Plants Act - http://eea.government.bg/bg/legislation/biodiversity/ZLR_en.pdf

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