Wild Basil - Clinopodium vulgare

Short to medium, softly hairy plant, slightly aromatic. Stems usually unbranched. Leaves oval, slightly toothed and short stalked. Flowers pinkish purple 12 to 22 mm long in dense rather distant whorls, the upper lip flat. Calyx purplish.

Scrub, banks and dry grassy places usually but not always on dry calcareous soils.

Late June to September.

Perennial.

Occasional but widespread in much of Britain.

Fairly widespread though not particularly common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 61 of the 617 tetrads.