Last edited by CloCkWeRX on 11 Nov 2026. View history
White Horehound
Marrubium vulgare (white horehound or common horehound) is a flowering plant in the mint family (Lamiaceae), native to Europe, northern Africa, and southwestern and central Asia. Specifically, it emerged in the region between the Mediterranean Sea and Central Asia and now inhabits all continents save Antarctica. It is also widely naturalized in many places, including most of North and South America.
It is a grey-leaved herbaceous perennial plant, and grows to 25–45 centimetres (10–18 in) tall. The leaves are 2–5 cm (0.8–2.0 in) long with a densely crinkled surface, and are covered in downy hairs. The flowers are white, borne in clusters on the upper part of the main stem.
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White horehound facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For White Horehound, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 180 days at its best temperature, about 2430 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your White Horehound will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
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Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Marrubium vulgare L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Lamiales Labiatae |
|---|---|
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | perennial |
| Habit | prostrate/procumbent/semi-erect |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | low |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours), long day (>14 hours) |
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