Lopseed family | |
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Phryma leptostachya var. asiatica | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
(unranked): | Angiosperms |
(unranked): | Eudicots |
(unranked): | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Phrymaceae |
Genus: |
Phryma L. |
Species: | P. leptostachya |
Binomial name | |
Phryma leptostachya L. |
Phryma leptostachya, or lopseed, is a perennial herb. The genus is native to eastern North America (roughly, everywhere east of the Rocky Mountains) and Asia (Japan, Nepal, India and West Pakistan), and consists of either one or two species, depending on whether the American and Asian species are considered separate or not.
The plant stands about 0.3 to 1.0 meters tall, and the inflorescences bear a number of small (4 mm) tube-shaped white to pink flowers.
Although it has sometimes been classified in the family Verbenaceae, 21st century research has placed it in a small family (Phrymaceae) along with Mimulus (monkey flowers) and a small number of other genera which had formerly been in the Scrophulariaceae.