Forum Flora Germanica

Seen bad image of B.o. where one could see hairy stem/leves from far ...
Looks to me mine has "no hairs at all".

http://agrozoo.net/jsp/Galery_one_image ... 2dd8b9cefc ?


hair comparison src.: http://www.blumeninschwaben.de/Zweikei ... est.htm#2

BubikolRamios hat geschrieben: Sa Jul 22, 2023 9:08 am Seen bad image of B.o. where one could see hairy stem/leves from far ...
Looks to me mine has "no hairs at all".

Almost all Lamiaceae have at least somewhat hairy leaves and stems, and Betonica officinalis is no exception. Hairyness in the key is not a good characteristic because it's often variable. I've no experience with B. hirsuta because it's not a german species. I think hairyness is only in the key to differentiate it from B. hirsuta which is wooly haired. Thomas' alpine key list more characteristics to differentiate between the two (B. hirsuta = Stachys pradica).

As a rule of thumb, hairyness is normally ignored when keying Lamiaceae. In some exceptions hairyness _is_ important, but then it's often a difficult characteristic.