Mystery plant

[ChrisB]

I will Lesley, and I'll also leave on the flowers so it may self seed.  The ordinary S. byzantina seeds very successfully here so it may be my best bet, but I'll have a go with a cutting anyway.  Worth a try.  Must say I've never tried them from cuttings either.  Will scrape off the wool to avoid rot and see....

[fleurbleue]

Olivier Filippi, nurseryman in South of France, tells me it can't  be chrysantha which had round leaves when he saw it in Greece... 

[ChrisB]

Oh dear.  My plant has lanceolate shaped leaves, not very long either, but very hairy.  I've just googled again and am now stuck again.  I looked at all the ones you suggested Lesley, none other than chrysantha look like it somehow.  Wonder if its some sort of hybrid.  never knew there were so many stachys!!!

[Lesley Cox]

So back to square one? When I had S. chrysantha I remember that the mat had roundish leaves but I'm pretty sure the stem leaves were closer to long and narrow but the whole plant was only about 15cms in flower.

[Brian Ellis]

How frustrating Chris, what on earth can it be?

[ChrisB]

Someone will know I'm sure.  I'm going to take some pictures of its habit.  Trouble is, its half covered by a vigorous diascia at the moment, I'll have to find an angle to take it at.  Its flowering well at the moment too.  Nice to have plants in flower this time of year.  That was one of the reasons for considering whether it might be a salvia, but the lack of a distinctly square stem seems to rule that idea out from what the experts tell me.

[Lesley Cox]

There are several very attractive woolly salvias. S. daghestanica is one but mine hasn't flowered yet so I don't know what the flowers are like. S. pomifera is another and doubtless there are others. But it still looks rather like a stachys.

[Lesley Cox]

Googling tells me that both are purple, the later with red calyces. Very nice indeed.

[ChrisB]

They sound lovely Lesley.  I have just six seeds for you from S. chaemydryoides.  Must get them off in the post to you!

[Tim Ingram]

Chris - could it be a species of Sideritis? I have grown syraica, which is aromatic and with smaller yellow flowers but very wholly lanceolate a little like your plant. A couple of species, glacialis and scardica, are described in Jelitto and Schacht.

[Lesley Cox]

That's definitely a possibility Tim and Chris. I had S. syriaca myself once but lost it eventually. We're not allowed to import the seed here because they can be made into a hallucinagenic tea. I believe the Greeks and Turks enjoy () this, so you could maybe have yourself some fun Chris.

[ChrisB]

None of those look quite like it Lesley.  Tomorrow I'll take a photo, its too dark now to do it today.  The habit and flower racemes are not the same at all, but I can see why you thought it might be from my earlier picture.  I love trying to find the name of a plant, its such fun when you don't know and are looking.  I've checked quite a few of my books without success so far.  It is definitely hardy here, it came through last winter covered in feet of snow.  Anyway, wait until I take a pic of the habit, it may help some.  Thanks for your efforts!

[ChrisB]

And thinking even more, perhaps I'll take a piece tomorrow when I go to Ron's do I think Tim is going, but maybe Ron or someone else will recognise it!

[Maggi Young]

And thinking even more, perhaps I'll take a piece tomorrow when I go to Ron's do I think Tim is going, but maybe Ron or someone else will recognise it!

That's a good idea, Christine, I've never known Ron fail to make a correct ID. 

[Lesley Cox]

And of course you'll let us know. I'm getting a bit frustrated now myself, and want it identified. If no-one on the Forum knows, it probably doesn't exist!