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Lamium hybridum

cutleaf deadnettle

SunFull Sun – Part Shade

Overview

Lamium hybridum is an annual of cultivated and disturbed ground, growing 4-16 inches (10-40 cm) tall with square, branching stems that are often purple-tinged. Leaves are opposite, broadly egg-shaped to triangular, 0.4-1.6 inches (1-4 cm) long, with deeply and irregularly cut margins running down into the leaf stalk; upper leaves are usually flushed purple. The foliage has little or no scent. Two-lipped flowers are pink to red-purple, 0.4-0.6 inch (10-15 mm) long, in whorls among the upper leaves, with a slender corolla tube; they open from March through autumn and can appear in mild winters. Each flower produces up to four small nutlets. The plant germinates mainly in autumn and spring, flowers over a long season, and dies after seeding. It grows on fertile, disturbed soils in gardens, arable fields, and waste ground, often alongside Lamium purpureum, and runs through several overlapping generations where the ground stays open and bare.

Native Range

Native to Europe and western Asia, and naturalized in North America and other temperate regions. Grows on fertile, open, disturbed soils in gardens, arable land, roadsides, and waste ground, from lowlands to lower mountain elevations.

Suggested Uses

Not grown ornamentally; it occurs as a volunteer weed of gardens and cultivated land. Early and prolonged flowering supplies nectar and pollen to bees in late winter and spring. In gardens it is generally removed rather than retained.

How to Identify

Distinguished from the similar Lamium purpureum by leaves that are more deeply and irregularly cut, with the blade narrowing onto the stalk rather than being rounded and clearly stalked. Flowers are pink to red-purple, 0.4-0.6 inch (10-15 mm) long, with a straight corolla tube and a ring of hairs inside. Upper leaves are purple-tinged but less crowded and overlapping than in L. purpureum.

Appearance

Size & Dimensions

Height4" - 1'4"

Width/Spread4" - 1'

Colors

Flower Colors

Foliage Colors

Bloom Information

Bloom Period

~30 weeks

Spring Summer Fall

Flowers from March through October, and in mild areas sporadically through winter. Flowers are pollinated by bees and other long-tongued insects and can also self-pollinate. The long flowering season and repeated generations mean flowers and ripe seed are often present on the same plant.

Detailed Descriptions

Flower Description

pink to red-purple

Foliage Description

green, upper leaves purple-tinged

Growing Conditions

Sun Requirements

SunFull Sun SunPartial Shade

Requires 4-10 hours of direct sunlight daily

• Full Sun: 6+ hours of direct sunlight

• Partial Shade: 3-6 hours of direct sunlight

• Full Shade: Less than 3 hours of direct sunlight

Soil Requirements

pH Range6.0 - 7.5(Neutral)

357912

Soil Types

loam clay sand

Drainageaverage

Water & Climate

Water Needs

Medium

Care & Maintenance

Care Guide

Grows in full sun to partial shade on fertile, moist, disturbed soils, completing its cycle in a few months. Seed germinates in autumn and spring; autumn seedlings overwinter as small rosettes and flower early the following year. Tolerates a range of soils but grows fastest on cultivated, nutrient-rich ground. In gardens it is a frequent weed of bare soil between crops and is cleared by hoeing or hand-pulling before seed sets, because buried seed stays viable for several years. Young plants withstand light frost, but hard freezes kill plants once they are flowering. No feeding or watering is involved in its weedy setting.

Pruning

Hoeing or hand-pulling through the growing season clears plants before seed forms and limits the soil seed bank. Cut or uprooted plants do not regrow, but new seedlings continue to emerge from buried seed. Plants left in place self-seed freely.