Ballota acetabulosa PFAF Plant Database

2 New Books ** Edible Plants: An inspirational guide to choosing and growing unusual edible plants and Woodland Gardening (Forest) [Paperback]. more >>


Search Page Content

Ballota acetabulosa - (L.)Benth.

Common Name

Family

Lamiaceae or Labiatae

Synonyms

Known Hazards

None known

Habitats

Rocks and rough ground in dry hills to 900 metres[89].

Range

S. Europe - Greece.

Edibility Rating

Medicinal Rating

Care

Summary

Physical Characteristics

Ballota acetabulosa is an evergreen Perennial growing to 0.5 m (1ft 8in) by 0.8 m (2ft 7in).
It is hardy to zone 8. It is in leaf 12-Jan. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees.

Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very alkaline soils.
It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought.


http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Cillas

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Cillas

Habitats
Ground Cover; Cultivated Beds;

Edible Uses
None known

Medicinal Uses
Plants For A Future can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally. None known

Other Uses
Wick. The calyces are used as floating wicks in oil lamps[89, 100, 148]. The calyx is placed on the surface of the oil and soon becomes saturated with oil. It is then lit. Plants can be grown as a ground cover, forming a slowly spreading clump[208].

Cultivation details

Requires a very well-drained position in full sun[187, 188, 200]. Established plants are drought tolerant[190]. Tolerates poor soils[200]. Best grown in a hot dry position with some protection given from severe frosts[200]. Usually found on alkaline soils in the wild, it tolerates a pH down to 5 in cultivation[200]. This species is not hardy in the colder areas of the country, it tolerates temperatures down to between -5 and -10°c[200]. Plants are best pruned back to the ground in spring before new growth commences[188]. Plants are generally untroubled by pests and diseases[200]. This species is closely related to B. pseudodictamnus[200].

Propagation

Seed - we have no details for this species but suggest sowing the seed in spring in a greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Division in spring[200]. Larger divisions can be planted straight into their permanent positions whilst smaller clumps are best potted up and kept in a cold frame until they are growing away well. Cuttings of semi-ripe wood in the summer[188].

Plant Suppliers: Click here for a List

You can download this page as a PDF

Expert comment

Author
(L.)Benth.

Botanical References
89200

Links / References

[89]Polunin. O. and Huxley. A. Flowers of the Mediterranean.

A very readable pocket flora that is well illustrated. Gives some information on plant uses.

[100]Polunin. O. Flowers of Europe - A Field Guide.

An excellent and well illustrated pocket guide for those with very large pockets. Also gives some details on plant uses.

[148]Niebuhr. A. D. Herbs of Greece.

A pleasant little book about Greek herbs.

[187]Phillips. R. & Rix. M. Perennials Volumes 1 and 2.

Photographs of over 3,000 species and cultivars of ornamental plants together with brief cultivation notes, details of habitat etc.

[188]Brickell. C. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers

Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.

[190]Chatto. B. The Dry Garden.

A good list of drought resistant plants with details on how to grow them.

[200]Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992.

Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[208]Thomas. G. S. Plants for Ground Cover

An excellent detailled book on the subject, very comprehensive.

Readers comment

QR Code

What's this?

This is a QR code (short for Quick Response) which gives fast-track access to our website pages. QR Codes are barcodes that can be read by mobile phone (smartphone) cameras. This QR Code is unique to this page. All plant pages have their own unique code. For more information about QR Codes click here.

1. Copy and print the QR code to a plant label, poster, book, website, magazines, newspaper etc and even t-shirts.

2. Smartphone users scan the QR Code which automatically takes them to the webpage the QR Code came from.

3. Smartphone users quickly have information on a plant directly for the pfaf.org website on their phone.

Rate This Plant
Please rate this plants for how successful you have found it to be. You will need to be logged in to do this. Our intention is not to create a list of 'popular' plants but rather to highlight plants that may be rare and unusual and that have been found to be useful by website users. This hopefully will encourage more people to use plants that they possibly would not have considered before.

Add a comment/link

If you have important information about this plant that may help other users please add a comment or link below. Only comments or links that are felt to be directly relevant to a plant will be included. If you think a comment/link or information contained on this page is inaccurate or misleading we would welcome your feedback at admin@pfaf.org. If you have questions about a plant please use the Forum on this website as we do not have the resources to answer questions ourselves.

* Please note: the comments by website users are not necessarily those held by PFAF and may give misleading or inaccurate information.

Subject : Ballota acetabulosa

Links	To add a link to another website with useful info add the details here
Name of Site
URL of Site
Details