Family: mint family (Lamiaceae)
Flowering time: July–August
Size: 10–30 cm
Habitat: low bogs, moist and swampy meadows
The stem of garlic germander (Teucrium scordium) may be simple or branched. At the base, lateral shoots – offsets – emerge. They are normally leafy and take root at the nodes. The stem is leafy with elongated oval, sessile leaves with a finely toothed margin. If you rub the leaves between your fingers, they smell of garlic. In the leaf axil of the upper stem leaves, small, 8 to 10 mm long, pink flowers develop. The two-lipped flowers lack a developed upper lip and are markedly shorter than the supporting leaves.
Garlic germander is a fairly rare plant that grows on moist soils in warm habitats. In Slovenia it occurs very sparsely. In our country it is listed as a vulnerable species on the Red List of endangered plants.
