Seasonal Wild Flowers

Lamb's-ear

Stachys byzantina

Lamiaceae

Donkey Ear, Rabbits Ear, Woolly Betony, Wooly Hedgenettle

June to September

The garden plant is found throughout the country.

The naturalised escape is thinly scattered and mainly in the

southern half.

See the BSBI distribution map for Lamb's-ear

It is a neophyte which was first grown in thre UK in the

1780s and seen in the wild in 1850s.

The naturalised escape has become established by roads

and on waste ground .

Lamb's-ear is a stoloniferous, spreading, perennial herb,

growing up to 45cm.

The flowers are typically woundwort, pink to purple, and

up to 25mm.

Flower spikes are covered in grey, wooly hairs.

It is grown as silvery, ground cover, but can be persistent

and invasive.

Lamb's-ear, waste ground, Somerset

Flower spike

Flowers, wooly hairs

Fowers with ants

Grey, downy leaves