Teucrium scorodonia aka Wood Sage

Teucrium scorodonia, commonly known as woodland germander or wood sage, is a flowering plant in the Lamiaceae family. Native to Western Europe and Tunisia, it is often cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens and has naturalized in regions such as New Zealand, the Azores, and some parts of North America. This woodland native features sage-like green leaves with a decorative frilly margin, sometimes edged with a pale hue. In summer, it produces small, pale yellow-cream flowers on spikes that are rich in nectar. With an average height of 30-60 centimeters, Teucrium scorodonia is a hairy shrub with erect and branched stems. Its leaves are petiolate and have a triangular-ovate to oblong shape, lightly wrinkled and irregularly toothed. The inflorescence consists of one-sided pale green or yellowish flowers, each bearing four stamens with reddish or violet filaments. These flowers grow in the axils of the upper leaves and are hermaphrodite, tomentose, and bilabiate, lacking an upper lip like other Teucrium species. From June to August, it attracts pollinators, primarily Hymenoptera species.