Stachys palustris L., Marsh Woundwort

Account Summary

Growth form and preferred habitats

S. palustris is a rhizomatous perennial that grows to around 100 cm tall and is similar in appearance and biology to S. sylvatica (Hedge Woundwort), but its tissues are less offensive smelling and the stems are hollow rather than solid. Marsh Woundwort also has more lanceolate, almost stalk-less leaves with crenate margins compared with S. sylvatica and it has paler pink flowers. The two species differ considerably in their preferred habitats, S. sylvatica being a plant of much more open, drier soils.

S. palustris is a very common species of damp to thoroughly wet habitats throughout lowland B & I. It typically occurs in hollows in marshy or swampy grasslands and in fens by lakeshores, along the banks of rivers, streams, ditches and in damp to moist, rough grassland along roadside verges. It is especially associated with ground that intermittently floods or is poorly drained, factors that limit the vigour of potentially dominant associated species (K. Walker, in: Preston et al. 2002).

S. palustris competes very well and persists in marshy tall herb communities, but is intolerant of frequent grazing and mowing. Although it can tolerate moderate shade, Marsh Woundwort prefers sunny, sheltered, moderately fertile, mildly acid to calcareous soils. It occasionally also occurs as a weed of agricultural land (Garrard & Streeter 1983; Sinker et al. 1985). The established strategy of S. palustris is categorised as C/CR, meaning it is intermediate between a Competitor and a Competitive Ruderal (Grime et al. 1988, 2007).

Flowering reproduction

Marsh Woundwort flowers from July to September, the inflorescence a terminal interrupted spike with whorls of 4- to 10-flowers each, the lower distant, the upper crowded, and bracteoles minute or absent. The 'whorls' are actually greatly condensed cymes that botanically are referred to as verticillasters and they arise in the axils of opposite leaves (Holmes 1979). Not everyone appreciates this fine distinguishing point, but it is the case!

The corolla, 12-15 mm long, has the tube cream and the lobes rose-purple or mauve-pink in colour (Sell & Murrell 2009). The tube of the corolla is twice as long as the calyx. Nectar is secreted at the base of the superior ovary and stored in the smooth lowest part of the corolla tube. The upper lip of the corolla not only shelters the anthers and stigma in bad weather, it also protects the nectar from dilution by rain. The circlet of hairs that is inside the corolla tube just above the base also protects the nectar and keeps out unbidden guests, such as flies (Hutchinson 1972). The flowers are protandrous and are pollinated mainly by long-tongued bees. The nutlets (or achenes) are ellipsoid and, as usual in this family (Lamiaceae), are produced in fours. They are ovoid, finely striate and brown in colour (Butcher 1961). In the damp to wet habitats of the species, the nutlets can often float and disperse, sometimes while retained within the dry, withered calyx. The 'seed' or nutlet is either transient or long-term persistent, both being represented in the soil seed bank survey of NW Europe (Thompson et al. 1997).

Vegetative reproduction

S. palustris has a long creeping rhizome that also produces numerous, white, fleshy subterranean stolons that creep in all directions and develop small tubers at their apex in the autumn. Sometimes the tubers can be elongated, ranging from 8-12 cm long (Grieve 1931; Butcher 1961; Clapham et al. 1987; Webb et al. 1988; Sell & Murrell 2009). The rhizome and tubers are the overwintering (perennating) organs of the species, the aerial parts of which die down in the late autumn (November) and disappear after fruiting. The tubers and rhizome sprout new aerial stems when the soil warms up in the spring. The production of numerous sub-surface rhizomes and tubers by S. palustris helps to maintain shoot population density in an existing population, with little or no need for seedling recruitment. Stolons are said to be formed less frequently than in S. sylvatica (Taylor & Rowland 2011).

Fermanagh occurrence

S. palustris has been recorded in 223 Fermanagh tetrads, 42.2% of those in the VC. It is especially frequent in winter-flooded water meadows around the shores of Lough Erne, although it should be acknowledged that this area of the VC was intensively surveyed by the NIEA NI Lake Survey. While S. palustris is slightly less widespread in Fermanagh than S. sylvatica, it is almost 50% the more frequently recorded of the two in the Fermanagh Flora Database.

British and Irish occurrence

S. palustris is well distributed throughout B & I, although absent from parts of NE England and N Scotland and also scarce or absent in the Scottish Highlands. From the New Atlas hectad map, there appears to be little evidence of any change in the overall distribution of S. palustris since the earlier 1962 BSBI Altas (Perring & Walters 1962; K. Walker, in: Preston et al. 2002).

European and world occurrence

Like S. sylvatica, S. palustris is widely distributed across most of Europe, becoming rarer in the Mediterranean region. It extends into W & C Asia and related forms (sometimes regarded as subspecies) stretch to Japan. S. palustris has been introduced in N America, where again there are related species or subspecies of S. palustris s.l. (Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1600).

Uses

S. palustris was regarded by many herbalists in the past as the most effective 'wound-herb' of the genus. Gerard (1597, 1633) describes it being used to poultice a deep scythe cut, but it was in use long before his time. Modern herbalists use it for its antiseptic and antispasmodic properties to relieve gout, cramp, joint pain and vertigo (Grieve 1931).

Names

The genus name 'Stachys' is from the Greek 'stachus' for 'a spike', obviously referring to the inflorescence shape (Johnson & Smith 1972). The Latin specific epithet 'palustris' is 'of boggy or marshy ground' (Gledhill 1985).

English common names include 'Clown's Woundwort', 'Clown's All-heal', two names from Gerard's Herbal on account of "a clownish answer" which he received from a "very poore man" who had cut his leg to the bone and healed it with this plant (Gerard 1597). Additionally there is 'Cock-head', 'Dead-nettle', 'Hound's-tongue', 'Swine's Maskert' (or 'Swine's Mosscort'), 'Swine Arnut' (possibly from the Dutch 'aardnut', meaning 'earth-nut'), 'Rough Weed' (a name given by Tate (1863) in Flora Belfastiensis), 'Runch' (possibly referring to the edible white roots that were sometimes fed to pigs) and 'Sheep's Brisken' ("a name from Co Donegal, almost certainly a corruption of the Gaelic 'briosclan' or 'brisgean', a name applied to an edible root sometimes used by poorer people to make bread" (Britten & Holland 1886)).

Threats

None.

• Find out more about the format of the species accounts
• View abbreviations
• View references for all species accounts
• View a gazetteer of all the sites