| Author | L. | |
| Distribution | Present across the entire state, with many holes present.
This is a very widespread species, ranging across southern Canada and all of the U.S., except apparently CA. | |
| Abundance | Fairly common to frequent in the lower Coastal Plain, and fairly common in the Mountains and most of the Piedmont and central-western Coastal Plain. It is quite rare to absent in the Sandhills region. Even though it is not overly common anywhere, the State Rank of S4 as assigned by the NCNHP should be moved to S5, given its wide range. | |
| Habitat | This is a wetland species found in damp ground but not overly wet places. It grows in marshes, openings in bottomlands and swamps, wet meadows, damp places in powerline clearings, and other similar places. | |
| Phenology | Blooms from June to September, and fruits soon after flowering. | |
| Identification | This is a fairly "standard-looking" herb with opposite leaves, growing essentially unbranched to about 1.5-2 feet tall. The leaf has a short petiole about 2/5-inch long, and a leaf blade that is lanceolate, narrowly ovate, to often oblong, with a rounded base and a tapered tip. The blades are about 3-4 inches long and about 1-1.5 inches wide, with finely serrated margins. The inflorescence is a terminal raceme, covering the top 5-6 inches of the stem, consisting of numerous pink to rose-pink flowers about 2/3-inch long and facing outward. However, the flower has an odd shape, in that the upper lip is quite short, and the lower lip is very long and angled downward, so that the stamens are quite conspicuous. When not in bloom, this can be a tricky species to identify, as quite a few species have square stems (though mostly limited to mints) and serrated lanceolate or oblong leaves. When in bloom, the odd flower shape should clinch the identification. The species is not hard to find in the state, though it is not seen daily. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Not surprisingly, owing to its huge range, there are several varieties. Nearly all of the state has the nominate one -- var. canadense; however, var. hypoleucum grows in coastal marshes (mostly tidal freshwater ones), according to Weakley (2018).
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| Other Common Name(s) | Germander, Canada Germander, Wood Sage | |
| State Rank | S4 [S5] | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACW link |
| USACE-emp | FACW link |
