목향유

목향유

	과명 Labiatae(꿀풀과) 속명 Elsholtzia (향유속) 전체학명 Elsholtzia stauntoni Benth. 추천명 목향유 이명 외국명

A semi-woody plant about 5 ft high, scarcely shrubby, the growths dying back considerably during winter, sending up each summer erect leafy growths, bearing the flowers in panicles at the top during September and October. Shoots cylindrical, clothed with a very fine down. Leaves opposite, lanceolate, slenderly tapered at both ends, coarsely triangular-toothed except at the ends, 2 to 6 in. long, 1⁄2 to 11⁄2 in. wide, dark green above, pale and covered with minute dots beneath, glabrous on both sides, minutely downy on the margins. When crushed the leaf emits an odour like mint. Flower-panicles narrow-cylindrical, grey, woolly, 4 to 8 in. long, about 1 in. wide, produced at the end of the main and axillary secondary shoots, forming a large branched inflorescence at the top. Flowers small, purplish pink, crowded in short-stalked umbels on the main axis of the panicle. Bot. Mag., t. 8460.

Native of China; long known to botanists, but only introduced to cultivation in 1909. It is useful for flowering late in the season, but is of a rather weedy character. Propagated very easily by cuttings of youngish growths. Thrives in rich loamy soil and in full sunshine.

http://www.beanstreesandshrubs.org/browse/elsholtzia/elsholtzia-stauntonii-benth/