Glechoma grandis is an East Asian cousin of ground-ivy (creeping Charlie), the low, creeping mint-family weed found in many American lawns. It grows wild in Japan, Taiwan, and southeastern China and is not known to grow in the US. Some botanists treat it as a subspecies of ground-ivy.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A that first stands about 2–10 in (5–25 cm) tall, then sprawls along the ground after flowering, sending out over 3 ft (1 m) long that root at the joints.
- Leaves
- Opposite, rounded to kidney-shaped leaves with blunt teeth, about 0.4–2 in (1–5 cm) across.
- Flowers
- Pale purple to pinkish-purple, two-lipped flowers about 0.6–1 in (15–25 mm) long, with darker purple spots on the lower lip; they bloom in spring.
Look-alikes
Ground-ivy (creeping Charlie)Glechoma hederacea
Ground-ivy has somewhat smaller flowers and less hairy stems and leaves. In the US, any wild Glechoma you find is almost certainly ground-ivy.
Why they get mixed upThe two look very similar and are sometimes treated as one species.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Roadsides
- Fields
- Damp ground near houses
- Range
- Native to Japan, Taiwan, and southeastern China; recently also confirmed in Korea.
Growing it
- Propagation
- Spreads by creeping stems that root at the nodes.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
More species to explore
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