Nomenclature

Species name:

Teucrium fruticans   L.

Author(s):

Carl von Linné
   Sweden, 1707-1778

General names:

Olive-leaved Germander
Evergreen Germander
Shrubby germander
Tree germander

Maltese name:

Żebbugija

Plant Family:

Lamiaceae / Labiatae   (Mint Family)

Name Derivation:

Teucrium = Greek name attributed to Germander. It is believed that it is an old name for Teucer, the first king of Troy who used this plant for the first time in as a medicine. Teucer went to Cyprus, where he founded the town of Salamis and ruled as king (Greek);
fruticans = Becoming shrubby or bushy. (Latin).

Synonyms:

Teucrium angustifolium, Teucrium boeticum, Teucrium latifolium.

Plant Description

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Habitat:

Rocky areas such as garigue, valley sides, and maquis

Sources in Malta:

Common, found throught the Maltese islands such as in Dingli, Mtahleb, Mellieha garigues, Wied Incita, Lapsi, Hagar Qim (Qrendi), Comino and most of Gozo's rocky coastal areas and valleys.

Plant Height:

In rich soil, old plants can grow up to 1.5m in height. On average, plants in Malta are found as a medium sized shrub, between 50-80cm high.

Flowering Time:

Dec-Jun

A multi branched, perennial shrub covered with numerous leaves all year round, and forming plenty of lip-shaped flowers during Winter and Spring. Stem branching often opposite-dessucate from leaf axils. Stems has a square cross-section (typical of the many plants in the mint family) with slightly swollen corners. Younger twigs are covered with wool-like greyish-white hairs, older stems becomes woody.

Leaves are sub-sessile - held by a very short petiole about 1mm long, and arranged oppositely along the stems. Their shape is lanceolate, with a margin lacking teeth or lobes - an important feature for identification between other shrubby wild mints in Malta. Another and perhaps more important distinguishing feature is the presencen of short, wooly, felt-like hair only at the underside of the leaves, making leaves to have an ash-gray colour below and glossy, dark green above. Pinnate sunken venation is seen at the upper face while bulging out at the lower one.

Inflorescence is a two-flowered verticillaster, each growing from the axil of the opposite leaf-like bracts. The flower consists of a bell-shaped, actinomorphic calyx and a zygomorphic, lip-shaped corolla. The calyx has 5, large, identical, triangualer lobes (ocassionally the upper slightly larger). Alike leaves, they have an ash-grey felt-like texture as the lower (=outer) side of the leaves.

The pale blue corolla consists only of a single lower lip, 15-25mm long and decorated with lobes and coloured venation. Upper lip absent. The lower lip has a total of 5 lobes, a pair is found upright (erect) near the mouth, forming a channel like structure to the mouth, followed by a pair of lateral, spreading-out, flatenned lobes and finally a terminal, large, central lobe pointing down and sides bent up (concave). The lateral lobes are more or less perpendicular to the central lobe. The lower 3 lobes are decorated by a pale violet-blue veins, while the erect lobes near the mouth have a more contrasting, purple venation. Flowers have a fairly strong sweet scent.

The flower have 4 long, parallel, white stamens (c. 15mm) that are curved inwards towards the lip. They are of equal length (outer ones sometines longer by 1-2mm), slightly divergent and each hold a purple-maroon anther. The pistil consists of a small ovary (hidden inside the mouth), a white style (also curved inwards) that is slightly longer from the stamens and a bifid stigma.

The fruit is a set of 4 nutlets seated in the receptacle surrounded and protecetd by a persistant green calyx. Nutlets turn dark brown when ripe and drop off.

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