''Glechoma'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the mint family,

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

, first described for modern science in 1753. It is distributed in northern

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

with a center of diversity in Asia, especially

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. One species is naturalized in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref>Jang, T. and S. Hong. (2010)
Comparative pollen morphology of ''Glechoma'' and ''Marmoritis'' (Nepetinae, Lamiaceae).
''Journal of Systematics and Evolution'' 48(6), 464-73.Flora of China Vol. 17 Page 118 活血丹属 huo xue dan shu ''Glechoma'' Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 578. 1753.
/ref> These plants are perennial herbs with

stolon In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...

s. The stems are prostrate or upright and bear leaf blades on long petioles. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

s arising from the leaf axils have two to many flowers. The tubular corolla has two lobed lips, and is generally blue-violet. The genus is closely related to ''

Marmoritis ''Marmoritis'' is a genus of plants in the Lamiaceae, first described in 1833. It is native to western China and the Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontine ...

'' but closer still to ''

Meehania ''Meehania'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae, first described in 1894. It is native to China, Japan, and the eastern United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United State ...

'', and some species have in the past been moved between the latter genus and ''Glechoma''. ;Species: # ''

Glechoma biondiana ''Glechoma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, first described for modern science in 1753. It is distributed in northern Asia and Europe with a center of diversity in Asia, especially China. One species is naturalized ...

'' (Diels) C.Y.Wu & C.Chen - Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Sichuan # ''

Glechoma grandis ''Glechoma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, first described for modern science in 1753. It is distributed in northern Asia and Europe with a center of diversity in Asia, especially China. One species is naturalized ...

'' (A.Gray) Kuprianova - Japan, Taiwan, Jiangsu # ''

Glechoma hederacea ''Glechoma hederacea'' is an aromatic, perennial, evergreen creeper of the mint family Lamiaceae. It is commonly known as ground-ivy, gill-over-the-ground, creeping charlie, alehoof, tunhoof, catsfoot, field balm, and run-away-robin. It is als ...

'' L. – ground-ivy, creeping charlie - much of Europe, much of Russia, Central Asia, Xinjiang; naturalized in New Zealand and North America # '' Glechoma hirsuta'' Waldst. & Kit. - eastern and southeastern Europe # '' Glechoma longituba'' (Nakai) Kuprian. - Vietnam, Korea, eastern + central China, Russian Far East (Amur, Primorye) # '' Glechoma × pannonica'' Borbás - eastern Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Baltic Republics ''(G. hederacea × G. hirsuta)'' # '' Glechoma sardoa'' Halácsy & Wettst. - Sardinia # '' Glechoma sinograndis'' C.Y.Wu - Yunnan

Etymology

''Glechoma'' is said to derive from the Greek name ''glechon'' for pennyroyal, ''Mentha pulegium''.

Ecology

Insects found on ''Glechoma'' include the

carpenter bee Carpenter bees are species in the genus ''Xylocopa'' of the subfamily Xylocopinae. The genus includes some 500 bees in 31 subgenera. The common name "carpenter bee" derives from their nesting behavior; nearly all species burrow into hard plant m ...

'' Xylocopa sinensis'', which robs nectar from ''G. longituba''.Zhang, Y. W., et al. (2007)
Nectar robbing of a carpenter bee and its effects on the reproductive fitness of ''Glechoma longituba'' (Lamiaceae).
''Plant Ecology'' 193(1), 1-13.

References

External links

Flora Europaea: ''Glechoma''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q604345 Lamiaceae Lamiaceae genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus