| Author | Ahles ex Sorrie | |
| Distribution | Limited primarily to the Sandhills region, but ranges sparingly eastward onto the flatter part of the central Coastal Plain, to Wayne County.
This is a narrow Sandhills endemic, limited to southeastern NC and central SC, almost entirely in the Sandhills regions of both states. | |
| Abundance | Fairly common in the Sandhills, but rare away from this region to Wayne County. | |
| Habitat | This is a species of sunny Sandhills wetlands, meaning it occurs in seepage slopes and bogs, streamhead pocosin ecotones, seepages in powerline clearings, and boggy margins of beaver ponds and other impoundments. |
| Phenology | Blooms from July to frost, and fruits shortly after flowering. | |
| Identification | This Lycopus is similar to others, growing mostly unbranched to about 1.5 feet tall, but may have a few branches from the upper part of the stem. It has numerous pairs of opposite stem leaves like the others, plus the usual dense whorls of very small white flowers in most leaf axils. Identify this restricted range species by the leaves that are rounded at the base but may show a very short petiole, or if sessile, are not clasping (i.e., the leaf does not touch the leaf of the other pair). The leaf blade is ovate to elliptical, about 1.5 inches long and 2/3-inch wide, with a few teeth along the margins. You may need to check the calyx lobes with a hand lens; in this species they are obtuse to more often acute, whereas in L. amplectens they are acuminate (quite long and sharply pointed). You generally will have little trouble finding this species in the Sandhills, but be aware that L. virginicus is often the most common member of the genus practically everywhere in the state. Thankfully, it has very long and tapered petioles, and prefers floodplain habitats in the Sandhills. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
| |
| Other Common Name(s) | Carolina Bugleweed, Sandhills Bugleweed | |
| State Rank | S3 | |
| Global Rank | G3 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | OBL link |
| USACE-emp | OBL link |
