Knowledgebase

Horehound? #823821

Asked March 29, 2023, 11:44 AM EDT

A new plant made an appearance in our yard last year and has returned/not gone away as of this spring. In fact, has multiplied. My leaf ID app says it's probably white Horehound, or perhaps Black Horehound, and that it is from Europe and Asia. Question is should I be working to get rid of it, or is it a non-problematic non-native?

Prince George's County Maryland

Expert Response

We think this is an invasive plant but not either species of Horehound in this case. Its foliage shape, texture, and growth habit resembles Perilla (it goes by multiple common names), which is a member of the same plant family but not otherwise closely related. (To be fair, the mint plant family is a huge family, with many native and non-native species.) Plant ID apps aren't always very accurate, though often they're better at higher-level IDs (to family level, say) than they are finer-level species IDs.

Perilla is widespread in Maryland; there are very few records for Black Horehound, and while the latter is non-native, it's not listed as invasive. The foliage appearance on the pictured weeds don't appear to match the characteristics of horehound foliage, though.

If this is Perilla, then we definitely recommend it be removed. The Maryland Invasive Species Council published a brief article about the plant as the Invader of the Month in June 2011.

Miri

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