Moluccella L.

Plant originally collected from the Moluccas, Indonesia.

Annual or perennial herbs. Leaves opposite, round-toothed, stalked. Flower clusters in axillary whorls. Flowers with calyx 2-lipped, bell-shaped, veins 15, with spine-tipped teeth, enlarging in fruit and becoming papery. Corolla small, white, fragrant, 2-lipped, the upper lip hooded, lower lip 3-lobed; spring to autumn. Fruit of 4 nutlets.

Grown for the bell-like green calyx and the everlasting flowers that are useful in floristry.

Seed.

Expanded calyx persistent and papery in fruit.

4 species from the Mediterranean to NW India.

Source: Spencer, R.; Holmes, R.; McNaughton, V. (2002). Lavandula. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 4. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 3. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

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kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Asteranae
order      Lamiales
family       Lamiaceae
Higher taxa
Subordinate taxa
species         Moluccella laevis L.