HOREHOUND

also spelled Hoarhound, also called White Horehound (Marrubium vulgare), bitter perennial herb of the mint family (Lamiaceae, or Labiatae) whose leaves and flowering tops are used as flavouring for beverages and candies and as a traditional medicine. Infusions or extracts of horehound in the form of syrups, beverages, or lozenges are popular in the United States as remedies for coughs and minor pulmonary disturbances. Native to Europe, North Africa, and Central Asia, horehound is naturalized in North America. It is cultivated in Great Britain and is occasionally found as an escape, growing wild on drier soils. The plant is coarse, strongly aromatic, and less than 1 m (3 feet) tall. Its blunt-toothed, broad, oval leaves are wooly white below and pale green and downy above. The flowers are small, whitish, and densely clustered in axillary whorls. Black horehound, Ballota nigra, is a hairy perennial herb with a fetid odour, belonging to the same family. It has purplish flowers and lacks the wooly white appearance of white horehound. It is sometimes used to adulterate extracts of white horehound. It is native to the same regions as white horehound and is naturalized in North America.