Purple Dead Nettle

(Lamium purpureum)

 

Color photograph: Copyright Nearctica.com, Inc.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Purple Dead Nettle (Lamium purpureum)

Alien: Native of Europe.

Identification: Flowers light purple to violet. Lower petal lobe narrow at the base, expanding into a broad, bilobed apex and spotted with dark purple. Upper petal lobe concave, helmet-shaped. Opening between upper and lower petal lobes large, open. Calyx with large, elongate bristles. Flowers arranged in whorls in the leaf axils. Stem square and weakly hairy. Leaves heart-shaped, crowded, often overlaping each other. Outer margin strongly dentate and surface of leaf reticulate. Plant 4 to 12 inches in height.

Distribution: Throughout most of North America.

Habitat: Purple Dead Nettle is a weedy species found in empty lots, fields, and along roadsides.

Flowering period: April to October.

Purple Dead Nettle (Lamium purpureum)

Similar Species: 

The distintive flower shape and the crowded, overlaping, heart-shaped leaves will identify this species.

Similar Species

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