Flora Pittsburghensis

Category: Lamiaceae

  • Purple Archangel

    Lamium purpureum
    Photographed April 14.

    Also known as Purple Dead-Nettle, on account of a fancied resemblance of the stingless leaves to the leaves of stinging nettles. This little member of the mint family can bloom in literally any month of the year in Pittsburgh, but it puts on its best show in the early spring, when the pretty pink flowers are accented by the purple new leaves at the top of the stalk. The plants can grow almost anywhere; these were growing out of a sidewalk crack in Beechview.

    Purple Archangel

    For a detailed description, see the Lamium purpureum reference page.

  • Wild Basil (Clinopodium vulgare)

    Clinopodium vulgare

    More pictures of this pretty little mint growing along the Montour Trail in Moon Township. For a description of the species, see the Clinopodium vulgare reference page.

    Satureja vulgaris
    Wild Basil
    Clinopodium vulgare
    Clinopodium vulgare
    Wild Basil
    Photographed September 24 with a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6.

  • Wild Basil (Clinopodium vulgare)

    Wild Basil (Satureja vulgaris or Clinopdium vulgare)

    A mint that grows fuzzy heads of pinkish flowers. In many references this is Satureja vulgaris, and it has gone by many other names as botanists have tried to sort out this branch of the mint family. It is either native or introduced or both: the USDA PLANTS database has it as native throughout its range in North America; the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center says that it “is native in the northern part of its range but was probably introduced from Europe, where it is widespread, in the southern part”; other sources list it as entirely introduced.

    These plants were growing along the Montour Trail in Moon Township.

    Wild Basil (Satureja vulgaris or Clinopdium vulgare)
    Wild Basil (Satureja vulgaris or Clinopdium vulgare)
    Photographed August 30 with a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6.

  • Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

    Monarda fistulosa

    A native plant often grown as a garden perennial. It is listed as native in the USDA PLANTS Database throughout most of the eastern United States, but Gray (revised by Fernald) points out that it is often a garden escape. Our wild specimens of this plant in the Pittsburgh area are probably descended mostly from garden plants, but it is hard to tell anymore. These were blooming in a field deliberately maintained as a native-plant showcase in Robin Hill Park, Moon Township.

    Wild Bergamot
    Monarda fistulosa
    Wild Bergamot

    For a description of the species, see the Monarda fistulosa reference page.

    Monarda fistulosa
    Photographed July 16 with a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6.

  • Spotted Henbit (Lamium maculatum)

    Lamium maculatum

    A popular garden groundcover frequently found in the wild around Pittsburgh. The forms around here usually have a white blotch in the middle of each leaf, which makes identification easy.

    Spotted Henbit

    There are many common names for this plant; Purple Dragon is another, and the flowers do look like little dragon heads if you have the kind of imagination that sees dragon heads in little purple flowers.

    Purple Dragon

    For Gray’s description of the species, see the Lamium maculatum reference page.

    Lamium maculatum
    Photographed July 18 with a Konica Minolta DiMAGE Z6.