#3753 - Lamium galeobdolon ssp. argentatum - Variegated Yellow ArchangelÂ
A spillover from one of the private gardens adjacent to Woodhaugh, I think. Unfortunately it's quite invasive.
AKA golden dead-nettle, yellow weasel snout, and in New Zealand as aluminium plant or artillery plant. The common names archangel and dead-nettle date back to at least the 16th century. Archangel may have arisen from the rows of hooded flowers in the genus resembling a choir, and dead-nettle from the fact the leaves resemble true nettles but don't sting. They certainly stink if crushed, though, at least in this species - the trinomial comes from Greek and Latin, and means "silver-plated, weasel-stinking, gullet". It was originally described as Galeopsis galeobdolon by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, but he moved it to Lamium not long after. It has six other synonyms, however, and is often sold as Lamiastrum galeobdolon. Where it hasn't been banned entirely as a noxious weed, anyway.
The flowers (the only yellow ones in the genus) look like this -
Photo by light-up-gold on iNaturalist.
Originally native to central Europe, and now a problem in many other parts of the world.
Woodhaugh Gardens, Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand



















