''Ballota'' (horehound) is a genus of flowering evergreen perennial plants and subshrubs in the Family (biology), family Lamiaceae. Indigenous (ecology), native to Temperateness, temperate regions. The Mediterranean region has the highest Biodiversity, diversity in the genus, with more isolated locations in South Africa, Central Asia, northern Europe, and the islands of the eastern North Atlantic.
[Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]
/ref> It is found in rocky and waste ground.[Anne-Cathrine Scheen, Mika Bendiksby, Olof Ryding, Cecilie Mathiesen, Victor A. Albert, and Charlotte Lindqvist. 2010. "Molecular Phylogenetics, Character Evolution, and Suprageneric Classification of Lamioideae (Lamiaceae)". ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'' 97(2):191-217. ] Some of its species had previously been placed in ''Marrubium''. Other species have already been split to ''Pseudodictamnus''
''Ballota'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera including ''Coleophora'' case-bearers: ''C. ballotella'', ''C. lineolea'' (which has been recorded on ''B. nigra'') and ''C. ochripennella''.
;Species[
* ''Ballota adenophora'' Hedge - Saudi Arabia
* ''Ballota andreuzziana'' Pamp. - Libya
* ''Ballota antalyensis'' Tezcan & H.Duman - Turkey
* ''Ballota antilibanotica'' Post - Syria, Lebanon
* ''Ballota byblensis'' Semaan & R.M.Haber - Lebanon
* ''Ballota cristata'' P.H.Davis - Antalya region of Turkey
* ''Ballota glandulosissima'' Hub.-Mor. & Patzak - Turkey
* ''Ballota grisea'' Pojark. - Caucasus
* ''Ballota kaiseri'' Täckh. - Sinai
* ''Ballota larendana'' Boiss. & Heldr. - Turkey
* ''Ballota luteola'' Velen - Saudi Arabia
* ''Ballota macrodonta'' Boiss. & Balansa - Nigde region of Turkey
* ''Ballota nigra'' L. - most of Europe; North Africa, Middle East as far east as Iran; naturalized in New Zealand, Argentina, North America
* ''Ballota philistaea'' Bornm. - Israel
* ''Ballota platyloma'' Rech.f. - Iran
* ''Ballota saxatilis'' Sieber ex C.Presl - Middle East from Turkey to Saudi Arabia
* ''Ballota sechmenii'' Gemici & Leblebici - Turkey
* ''Ballota vellerea'' Maire, Weiller & Wilczek - Morocco
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q158853
Ballota,
Lamiaceae genera
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Flora of the Mediterranean Basin