Marrubium is a genus of about 40 species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the family Lamiaceae

Lamiaceae

The mints, taxonomically known as Lamiaceae or Labiatae, are a family of flowering plants. They have traditionally been considered closely related to Verbenaceae, but in the 1990s, phylogenetic studies suggested that many genera classified in Verbenaceae belong instead in Lamiaceae...

, native to temperate regions of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

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Selected species

• Marrubium alternidens
• Marrubium alysson
• Marrubium cylleneum
• Marrubium friwaldskyanum
• Marrubium incanum
• Marrubium kotschyi
• Marrubium leonuroides
• Marrubium libanoticum
• Marrubium peregrinum
• Marrubium pestalozzae
• Marrubium rotundifolia
• Marrubium supinum
• Marrubium thessalum
• Marrubium velutinum
• Marrubium vulgare
  Marrubium vulgare
  Marrubium vulgare is a flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to Europe, northern Africa and Asia....
  
  - White Horehound or Common Horehound

The genus name Marrubium derives from the Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 marrob or bitter juice. The common name horehound is of unknown origin, but with the first part 'hore' derived from "hoary", "hairy".

The species formerly classified as Marrubium nigrum (Black Horehound) is now placed in the genus Ballota

Ballota

Ballota is a genus of about 35 species of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae, native to temperate regions of Europe, north Africa and western Asia, with the highest diversity in the Mediterranean region. The type species for the genus is Ballota nigra.Ballota is paraphyletic and will...

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Marrubium species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species including Coleophora lineolea

Coleophora

Coleophora is a very large genus of moths of the family Coleophoridae. It contains some 1,350 described species. The genus is represented on all continents, but the majority are found in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions...

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