Editing Marrubium vulgare

{{Short description|Plant species in the mint family}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Marrubium_vulgare_-_Köhler–s_Medizinal-Pflanzen-224.jpg
| image_caption = ''Marrubium vulgare''<ref>Franz Eugen Köhler, 1897, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen</ref>
| status = NT
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref>{{cite iucn|last=Khela|first=S.|year=2013|title=Marrubium vulgare (Europe assessment)|page=e.T203247A2762568}}</ref>
| genus = Marrubium
| species = vulgare
| authority = [[L.]]
| synonyms_ref = <ref name="POWO">{{cite POWO |id=449990-1 |title=''Marrubium vulgare'' L. |access-date=5 December 2024}}</ref>
| synonyms = {{Collapsible list | {{Species list
 | Marrubium album | Garsault
 | Marrubium apulum | Ten.
 | Marrubium ballotoides | Boiss. & Balansa
 | Marrubium germanicum | Schrank ex Steud.
 | Marrubium hamatum | Kunth
 | Marrubium hyperleucum | Candargy
 | Marrubium uncinatum | Stokes
 | Marrubium vaillantii | Coss. & Germ.
 | Prasium marrubium | E.H.L.Krause
}}
}}
}}

'''''Marrubium vulgare''''' ('''white horehound''' or '''common horehound''') is a [[flowering plant]] in the mint family ([[Lamiaceae]]), native to [[Europe]], northern [[Africa]], and southwestern and central [[Asia]]. Specifically, it emerged in the region between the Mediterranean Sea and Central Asia and now inhabits all continents.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Aćimović |first1=Milica |last2=Jeremić |first2=Katarina |last3=Salaj |first3=Nebojša |last4=Gavarić |first4=Neda |last5=Kiprovski |first5=Biljana |last6=Sikora |first6=Vladimir |last7=Zeremski |first7=Tijana |date=2020-06-24 |title=Marrubium vulgare L.: A Phytochemical and Pharmacological Overview |journal=Molecules |volume=25 |issue=12 |pages=2898 |doi=10.3390/molecules25122898 |doi-access=free |issn=1420-3049 |pmc=7355696 |pmid=32599693}}</ref> It is also widely naturalized in many places, including most of [[North America|North]] and [[South America]].

It is a grey-leaved [[herbaceous]] [[perennial plant]], and grows to {{convert|25|-|45|cm|0}} tall. The leaves are {{convert|2|-|5|cm|1|abbr=on}} long with a densely crinkled surface, and are covered in downy hairs. The [[flower]]s are white, borne in clusters on the upper part of the main stem.

==Etymology==
The [[Oxford English Dictionary]] derives the word ''horehound'' from Old English ''hoar'' (furry, as in "[[hoarfrost]]") and ''hune'' (a word of unknown origin designating a class of [[herb]]s or plants). The second element was altered by [[folk etymology]].  The word "White" is generally used in botanical contexts, to distinguish it from Black Horehound, ''Ballota nigra'', a similar-looking herb.

==Uses==
===Folk medicine===
[[File:De medicina V00117 00000006.tif|thumb|upright=.8|Celsus' ''De medicina'' in the [[Aldine Press|Aldine]] edition of 1528]]
White horehound has been mentioned in conjunction with use as a [[traditional medicine|folk medicine]] dating at least back to the 1st century BC, where it appeared as a remedy for respiratory ailments in the [[treatise]] ''[[De Medicina]]'' by Roman [[encyclopaedist]] [[Aulus Cornelius Celsus]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Celsus/4*.html#9|title=LacusCurtius • Celsus – On Medicine – Book IV|website=Penelope.uchicago.edu|access-date=21 January 2018}}</ref> The Roman agricultural writer [[Columella]] lists it as a remedy for [[Deworming|expelling worms]] in farm animals in his important first-century work ''On Agriculture''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archive.org/stream/onagriculturewit02coluuoft/onagriculturewit02coluuoft_djvu.txt|title=Full text of "On agriculture, with a recension of the text and an English translation by Harrison Boyd Ash"|website=Archive.org|access-date=21 January 2018}}</ref> Since then, white horehound has appeared for similar purposes in numerous [[herbal]]s over the centuries, such as ''The Herball, or, Generall historie of plantes'' by [[John Gerard]], and ''Every Man His Own Doctor: or, The Poor Planter’s Physician''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/ideas/text7/homemedicalguides.pdf|title= Every Man His Own Doctor: OR, The Poor Planter's Physician, ca. 1727|author=John Tennent|website=Nationalhumanitiescenter.org|access-date=21 January 2018}}</ref>

''M. vulgare'' has been described in monographs of the German [[Commission E]] as a treatment for colds, as a digestive, and as a [[choleretic]].<ref name=hsa/> It is one of the ingredients of the [[Ricola]] [[throat lozenge]].<ref name="hsa">{{cite web |author1=Maryann Readal |title=Horehound – Herb of the Month |url=https://herbsocietyblog.wordpress.com/2021/09/06/horehound-herb-of-the-month/ |publisher=The Herb Society of America |access-date=26 October 2023 |date=6 September 2021}}</ref> The [[U.S. Food and Drug Administration]] does not endorse the plant for use as a drug, but includes it as a safe [[food additive]].<ref name="fda">{{cite web |title=Horehound (hoarhound); Under 'H' in Food Additive Status List |url=https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/food-additive-status-list#ftnH |publisher=US Food and Drug Administration |access-date=26 October 2023 |date=26 September 2023}}</ref>

{{anchor|Horehound candy}}

===Culinary===
[[File:Horehound candy drops.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|A container of horehound candies from [[Fuzziwig's Candy Factory]]]]

Horehound candy drops are bittersweet [[hard candies]] like [[cough drops]] made with sugar and an [[extract]] of ''M. vulgare''. They are dark-colored, dissolve in the mouth, and have a flavor that has been compared to [[menthol]] and [[root beer]]. Like other products derived from ''M. vulgare'', they are sometimes used as an unproven folk treatment for coughs and other ailments.<ref name="Saveur">{{Cite book |url=https://www.saveur.com/horehounds-vintage-candy |title=Horehounds Are the Old-School Candy You're Missing Out On |last=Vandersteen |first=Eric |date=18 March 2019 |publisher=Saveur |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwsbif77CBoC |title=Who Wants Candy? |last=Sharrock |first=Jane |date=2004-08-03 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9781440625534 |pages=50 |language=en}}</ref>

''M. vulgare'' is used to make beverages such as [[horehound beer]] (similar to [[root beer]]), horehound [[herbal tea]] (similar to the [[Maghrebi mint tea]]), and the [[rock and rye]] cocktail.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://imbibemagazine.com/rock-rye-recipe/|title=Rock & Rye - Imbibe Magazine|website=Imbibemagazine.com|access-date=21 January 2018}}</ref>

==As an invasive weed==
Horehound was introduced to southern [[Australia]] in the 19th century as a medicinal herb.  It became a weed of native grasslands and pastures where it was introduced with settlers' livestock and was first declared under [[noxious weed]]s legislation. It now appears to have reached its full potential distribution.

In [[New Zealand]], efforts are being made to control its spread with [[Biological pest control|biocontrol]] measures using the horehound clearwing moth (''[[Chamaesphecia mysiniformis]]'') and the horehound plume moth (''[[Wheeleria spilodactylus]]''), which can eat their way through many plants.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/112477579/moths-may-be-the-key-to-controlling-spreading-infestations-of-horehound |title=Moths may be the key to controlling spreading infestations of horehound|date=9 May 2019 |newspaper=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |access-date=9 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/discover-our-research/biosecurity/weed-management/approvals/horehound/ |title=Horehound |publisher=[[Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research]] |access-date=20 June 2022}}</ref>

Horehound is usually found in disturbed and overgrazed areas. It is highly unpalatable to livestock, so livestock eat other plants around it, a process that favors the persistence and spread of the weed. It may persist in native vegetation that has been grazed.

==As biocontrol==
''Marrubium vulgare'' is also used as a [[Biopesticide|natural]] [[grasshopper]] [[Insect repellent|repellent]] in agriculture.

==In astrology==
According to 14th century English poet [[John Gower]], in Book 7 of ''his [[Confessio Amantis]]'', this plant was the herb of the fourth star of {{Clarify span|Nectanebus' astrology|date=December 2021}}, [[Capella]]. Gower uses the older name, Alhaiot (VII:1338).

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Marrubium vulgare.JPG|Wild horehound
File:Marrubium vulgare0.jpg|Flowers
File:Marrubium vulgare.jpg|Foliage of young plants
File:Horehound bug.jpg|[[Horehound bug]] (''Agonoscelis rutila''), an insect that feeds on the plant
File:Marrubium vulgare in Mexico II.jpg|Leaves (detail)
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Ballota nigra|Black Horehound]]
* [[List of candies]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons category|Marrubium vulgare|''Marrubium vulgare''}}
*Everist, D.L. (1981) ''Poisonous Plants of Australia''. 3rd ed. (Angus & Robertson: Sydney). {{ISBN|0-207-14228-9}}
*Parsons, W. & Cuthbertson, E. (2001) ''Noxious Weeds of Australia''. 2nd ed. (CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood). {{ISBN|0-643-06514-8}}

==External links==
{{Wikispecies}}
*[https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/230332 India Biodiversity Portal]
*[https://trefle.io/explore/species/marrubium-vulgare ''Marrubium vulgare'', Trefle]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q157631}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Marrubium|vulgare]]
[[Category:Flora of North Africa]]
[[Category:Flora of Europe]]
[[Category:Flora of Asia]]
[[Category:Herbs]]
[[Category:Medicinal plants]]
[[Category:Plants described in 1753]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]
[[Category:Traditional medicine]]
[[Category:Candy]]