Ballota
{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants in the sage family Lamiaceae}}
{{For|the parish in northern Spain|Ballota (Cudillero)}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Horehound
| image = Ballota nigra 2005.06.19 10.13.06-p6190007.jpg
| image_caption = Ballota nigra
| taxon = Ballota
| authority = L.
| type_species = Ballota nigra
| type_species_authority = L.
}}
Ballota (horehound) is a genus of flowering evergreen perennial plants and subshrubs in the family Lamiaceae. native to temperate regions. The Mediterranean region has the highest diversity in the genus, with more isolated locations in South Africa, Central Asia, northern Europe, and the islands of the eastern North Atlantic.[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=19563 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families][http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/floraspecie.php?genere=Ballota Altervista Flora Italiana, Genere Ballota] It is found in rocky and waste ground.{{cite book|title=RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants|year=2008|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-1405332965|pages=1136}}
Ballota is paraphyletic and will eventually be re-circumscribed. It is closely related to Moluccella and Marrubium.Anne-Cathrine Scheen, Mika Bendiksby, Olof Ryding, Cecilie Mathiesen, Victor A. Albert, and Charlotte Lindqvist. 2010. "Molecular Phylogenetics, Character Evolution, and Suprageneric Classification of Lamioideae (Lamiaceae)". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 97(2):191-217. {{doi|10.3417/2007174}} Some of its species had previously been placed in Marrubium. Other species have already been split to Pseudodictamnus
Ballota species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera including Coleophora case-bearers: C. ballotella, C. lineolea (which has been recorded on B. nigra) and C. ochripennella.
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- Ballota adenophora Hedge - Saudi Arabia
- Ballota andreuzziana Pamp. - Libya
- Ballota antalyensis Tezcan & H.Duman - Turkey
- Ballota antilibanotica Post - Syria, Lebanon
- Ballota byblensis Semaan & R.M.Haber - Lebanon
- Ballota cristata P.H.Davis - Antalya region of Turkey
- Ballota glandulosissima Hub.-Mor. & Patzak - Turkey
- Ballota grisea Pojark. - Caucasus
- Ballota kaiseri Täckh. - Sinai
- Ballota larendana Boiss. & Heldr. - Turkey
- Ballota luteola Velen - Saudi Arabia
- Ballota macrodonta Boiss. & Balansa - Nigde region of Turkey
- Ballota nigra L. - most of Europe; North Africa, Middle East as far east as Iran; naturalized in New Zealand, Argentina, North America
- Ballota philistaea Bornm. - Israel
- Ballota platyloma Rech.f. - Iran
- Ballota saxatilis Sieber ex C.Presl - Middle East from Turkey to Saudi Arabia
- Ballota sechmenii Gemici & Leblebici - Turkey
- Ballota vellerea Maire, Weiller & Wilczek - Morocco
{{div col end}}