Stachys annua, called the annual yellow woundwort, is a widespread species of flowering plant in the hedgenettle genus Stachys, native to Europe, the Middle East, and western Siberia, and introduced in Cyprus, eastern North America, and Amur Oblast and Primorsky Krai in far eastern Russia. It is a common plant in fields, road verges and waste places.
The annual, herbaceous plant reaches a stature height of 10 to 30 cm. The stem grows upright and is usually very branchy. Like the leaves, it is almost bare or only short and softly haired.
The leaves are oblong-elliptical, finely notched to more or less entire margins, 2 to 5 cm long and 0.5 to 1.5 cm wide. The lower ones are stalked, the upper ones seated and almost lanceolate in shape.
The flowers are short stalked, about 1.5 cm long and sit in 2 to 8-flowered, but mostly 6-flowered pseudo whorls. The crown is pale sulfur-yellow in color and hairy on the outside. The calyx teeth are pubescent and spiky. The annual Ziest flowers mainly in the months from June to October.
This plant might be poisonous
How to get rid of:
Annuals with shallow fibrous roots can be removed by pulling by hand after prying up with a shovel from underneath to loosen the ground.
