Lycopus americanus

American water horehound

Family: Lamiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

American water horehound is a California native perennial found in the Central California Foothills and Transverse Ranges, and the Sierra Nevada eastern slopes in moist areas, marshes, and streambanks at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from August to September, this plant produces small white flowers approximately 2 to 3 millimeters long with delicate, almost equal-sized calyx lobes. Growing with erect stems 20 to 80 centimeters tall that are generally glabrous with short-hairy nodes, it spreads through slender rhizomes. Its leaves are oblong to lanceolate, typically 2 to 8 centimeters long, deeply lobed especially in the lower half, with subtle hair variations on leaf veins. The small nutlets are 1 to 1.5 millimeters long with rounded tips, contributing to the plant's compact and understated character.

Habitat: Moist areas, marshes, streambanks

Bloom period: Aug-Sep

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: CA-FP, SNE

California counties: Riverside, Butte, Orange, San Bernardino, Colusa, Los Angeles, Kern, Inyo, Shasta, Tehama, Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Glenn, Contra Costa, Yolo, Lassen, Sutter, Yuba, Solano, San Joaquin, Merced, Humboldt, Stanislaus, Siskiyou, Santa Barbara, Plumas

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.