Description
Stachys palustris is a complex species. Plants identified as S. palustris have chromosome numbers varying from diploid to hexaploid. Diploid and tetraploid plants are native and should be treated as separate species. Hexaploid plants are weedy and are believed to have been introduced to North America from Eurasia (Mulligan et al. 1983). The native and introduced forms can also be distinguished by flower morphology and color ('moderate reddish purple'-introduced vs. light to 'moderate purplish pink'-native). This species has long been regarded as a mixture of several native and introduced varieties (Fernald 1950).
Other Taxonomic Groupings - Kartesz (1994) uses the subspecies name (S. p. ssp. palustris) for the typical form, which probably corresponds to Mulligan et al.'s (1983) introduced hexaploid form. The subspecies name (S. p. pilosa?) may apply to some or all of the native members of the S. palustris complex mentioned by Mulligan et al.
Potentially Misidentified Species - Stachys hyssopifolia (Hyssop-Leafed Hedgenettle) and S. tenuifolia (Smooth Hedgenettle) are native and ffound in tidal wetlands.
Taxonomy
| Kingdom | Phylum | Class | Order | Family | Genus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plantae | Magnoliophyta | Magnoliopsida | Lamiales | Lamiaceae | Stachys |
Synonyms
Invasion History
Chesapeake Bay Status
| First Record | Population | Range | Introduction | Residency | Source Region | Native Region | Vectors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1874 | Established | Stable | Cryptogenic | Boundary Resident | Europe | Eurasia | Shipping(Dry Ballast), Agriculture(Agricultural Weed) |
History of Spread
Stachys palustris is a taxonomically complex species, native to Eurasia, and now widespread in northern North America (Mulligan et al. 1983).. Plants identified as Stachys palustris in North America consist of native plants and an introduced hexaploid variety of European origin. The earliest herbarium specimen of the introduced weedy hexaploid form was collected in Amherst MA. A number of United States collections were made on dry ballast piles and other locations between 1815 and 1898. Hexaploid S. palustris ranges from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia west to Ontario and south to NJ and PA, and is a serious weed locally in New Brunswick and the St. Lawrence valley. 'There is no doubt that an exhaustive examination of specimens in United States herbaria will extend the range slightly in that country' (Mulligan et al. 1983).
Ward (1881) reported one specimen of S. palustris collected in Washington D.C. on June 26, 1874. It was not listed for MD by Shreve et al. (1910), but Brown and Brown (1984) describe it as 'naturalized from Europe in wet habitats'. Harvill et al. (1992) list several records from Piedmont and Mountain VA counties, but no coastal records. The only known intertidal record from Chesapeake Bay, listed as 'Stachys palustris(?)' is by Higman (1968) from land around the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (Edgewater MD, Java farm): 'a salt marsh at the northeast corner of farm above piers; flooded at high tide'.
History References - Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992; Higman 1968; Mulligan et al. 1983; Shreve et al. 1910
Invasion Comments
Invasion Status, Population Status- The invasion and population of this species are uncertain, because the one known Chesapeake Bay intertidal record was tentative ('Stachys palustris(?)'), and because it is not known whether the specimens in our range were the native or introduced form.
Ecology
Environmental Tolerances
| For Survival | For Reproduction | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum | Maximum | Minimum | Maximum | |
| Temperature (ºC) | ||||
| Salinity (‰) | 0.0 | 0.0 | ||
| Oxygen | ||||
| pH | ||||
| Salinity Range | fresh-meso |
Age and Growth
| Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum Adult Size (mm) | ||
| Typical Adult Size (mm) | ||
| Maximum Adult Size (mm) | ||
| Maximum Longevity (yrs) | ||
| Typical Longevity (yrs |
Reproduction
| Start | Peak | End | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reproductive Season | |||
| Typical Number of Young Per Reproductive Event |
|||
| Sexuality Mode(s) | |||
| Mode(s) of Asexual Reproduction |
|||
| Fertilization Type(s) | |||
| More than One Reproduction Event per Year |
|||
| Reproductive Startegy | |||
| Egg/Seed Form |
Impacts
Economic Impacts in Chesapeake Bay
Stachys palustris (Woundwort) is very rare in most of the watershed (Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992), and probably has no impacts on Chesapeake Bay.
References- Brown and Brown 1984; Harvill et al. 1992
Economic Impacts Outside of Chesapeake Bay
Stachys palustris (Woundwort) is locally a serious weed in eastern Canada (Mulligan et al. 1983).
References- Mulligan et al. 1983
Ecological Impacts on Chesapeake Native Species
Stachys palustris (Woundwort) is very rare in Chesapeake tidal wetlands and is expected to have little impact on native biota.
Ecological Impacts on Other Chesapeake Non-Native Species
Stachys palustris (Woundwort) is very rare in Chesapeake tidal wetlands and is expected to have little impact on introduced plant populations.
References
Brown, Melvin L.; Brown, Russell G. (1984) Herbaceous Plants of Maryland, , College Park. Pp.Fernald, Merritt L. (1950) Gray's Manual of Botany, In: (Eds.) . , New York. Pp.
Gleason, Henry A. (1963) The new Britton and Brown illustrated flora of the northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, In: (Eds.) . , New York. Pp.
Gleason, Henry A.; Cronquist, Arthur (1991) Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada, In: (Eds.) . , Bronx, New York. Pp.
Harvill, A. M.; Bradley, Ted R.; Stevens, Charles E.; Wieboldt, Thomas F.; Ware, Donna M. E.; Ogle, Douglas W.; Ramsey, Gwynn W.; Fleming, Gary P. (1992) Atlas of the Virginia Flora, , Burkeville, VA. Pp.
Higman, Daniel (1968) An ecologically annotated checklst of the vascular flora at the Chesapeake Bay Center for Field Biology., In: (Eds.) . , Washington, D.C.. Pp.
Kartesz, John T. (1994) A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland., In: (Eds.) . , Portland OR. Pp.
Mulligan, Gerald A.; Munro, Derek B.; McNeill, John (1983) The status of Stachys palustris (Labiatae) in North America, Canadian Journal of Botany 61: 679-682
Resource Management Inc. (1993) National list of plant species that occur in wetlands., , Minneapolis.. Pp.
Shreve, Forrest M.; Chrysler, M. A.; Blodgett, Frederck H.; Besley, F. W. (1910) The Plant Life of Maryland, , Baltmore. Pp.
Ward, L. F. (1881) Guide to the flora of Washington and Vicinity, United States National Museum Bulletin 22: 1-264