Marrubium vulgare

The Oxford English Dictionary derives the word horehound from Old English hoar (furry, as in "hoarfrost") and hune (a word of unknown origin designating a class of herbs or plants). The second element was altered by folk etymology. The word "White" is generally used in botanical contexts, to distinguish it from Black Horehound, Ballota nigra, a similar-looking herb.

File:De medicina V00117 00000006.tif edition of 1528]]

White horehound has been mentioned in conjunction with use as a folk medicine dating at least back to the 1st century BC, where it appeared as a remedy for respiratory ailments in the treatise De Medicina by Roman encyclopaedist Aulus Cornelius Celsus.{{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Celsus/4*.html#9|title=LacusCurtius • Celsus – On Medicine – Book IV|website=Penelope.uchicago.edu|access-date=21 January 2018}} The Roman agricultural writer Columella lists it as a remedy for expelling worms in farm animals in his important first-century work On Agriculture.{{cite web|url=https://www.archive.org/stream/onagriculturewit02coluuoft/onagriculturewit02coluuoft_djvu.txt|title=Full text of "On agriculture, with a recension of the text and an English translation by Harrison Boyd Ash"|website=Archive.org|access-date=21 January 2018}} Since then, white horehound has appeared for similar purposes in numerous herbals over the centuries, such as The Herball, or, Generall historie of plantes by John Gerard, and Every Man His Own Doctor: or, The Poor Planter’s Physician.{{cite web|url=http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/becomingamer/ideas/text7/homemedicalguides.pdf|title= Every Man His Own Doctor: OR, The Poor Planter's Physician, ca. 1727|author=John Tennent|website=Nationalhumanitiescenter.org|access-date=21 January 2018}}

M. vulgare has been described in monographs of the German Commission E as a treatment for colds, as a digestive, and as a choleretic. It is one of the ingredients of the Ricola throat lozenge.{{cite web |author1=Maryann Readal |title=Horehound – Herb of the Month |url=https://herbsocietyblog.wordpress.com/2021/09/06/horehound-herb-of-the-month/ |publisher=The Herb Society of America |access-date=26 October 2023 |date=6 September 2021}} The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not endorse the plant for use as a drug, but includes it as a safe food additive.{{cite web |title=Horehound (hoarhound); Under 'H' in Food Additive Status List |url=https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/food-additive-status-list#ftnH |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501165121/https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/food-additive-status-list#ftnH |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 1, 2019 |publisher=US Food and Drug Administration |access-date=26 October 2023 |date=26 September 2023}}

{{anchor|Horehound candy}}

File:Horehound candy drops.jpg]]

Horehound candy drops are bittersweet hard candies like cough drops made with sugar and an extract of M. vulgare. They are dark-colored, dissolve in the mouth, and have a flavor that has been compared to menthol and root beer. Like other products derived from M. vulgare, they are sometimes used as an unproven folk treatment for coughs and other ailments.{{Cite book |url=https://www.saveur.com/horehounds-vintage-candy |title=Horehounds Are the Old-School Candy You're Missing Out On |last=Vandersteen |first=Eric |date=18 March 2019 |publisher=Saveur |language=en}}{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwsbif77CBoC |title=Who Wants Candy? |last=Sharrock |first=Jane |date=2004-08-03 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9781440625534 |pages=50 |language=en}}

M. vulgare is used to make beverages such as horehound beer (similar to root beer), horehound herbal tea (similar to the Maghrebi mint tea), and the rock and rye cocktail.{{cite web|url=http://imbibemagazine.com/rock-rye-recipe/|title=Rock & Rye - Imbibe Magazine|website=Imbibemagazine.com|access-date=21 January 2018}}

Horehound was introduced to southern Australia in the 19th century as a medicinal herb. It became a weed of native grasslands and pastures where it was introduced with settlers' livestock and was first declared under noxious weeds legislation. It now appears to have reached its full potential distribution.

In New Zealand, efforts are being made to control its spread with biocontrol measures using the horehound clearwing moth (Chamaesphecia mysiniformis) and the horehound plume moth (Wheeleria spilodactylus), which can eat their way through many plants.{{cite news |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/112477579/moths-may-be-the-key-to-controlling-spreading-infestations-of-horehound |title=Moths may be the key to controlling spreading infestations of horehound|date=9 May 2019 |newspaper=Stuff |access-date=9 May 2019}}{{cite web |url= https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/discover-our-research/biosecurity/weed-management/approvals/horehound/ |title=Horehound |publisher=Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research |access-date=20 June 2022}}

Horehound is usually found in disturbed and overgrazed areas. It is highly unpalatable to livestock, so livestock eat other plants around it, a process that favors the persistence and spread of the weed. It may persist in native vegetation that has been grazed.

Marrubium vulgare is also used as a natural grasshopper repellent in agriculture.

According to 14th century English poet John Gower, in Book 7 of his Confessio Amantis, this plant was the herb of the fourth star of {{Clarify span|Nectanebus' astrology|date=December 2021}}, Capella. Gower uses the older name, Alhaiot (VII:1338).

File:Marrubium vulgare.JPG|Wild horehound

File:Marrubium vulgare0.jpg|Flowers

File:Marrubium vulgare.jpg|Foliage of young plants

File:Horehound bug.jpg|Horehound bug (Agonoscelis rutila), an insect that feeds on the plant

File:Marrubium vulgare in Mexico II.jpg|Leaves (detail)

• Black Horehound
• List of candies

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|Marrubium vulgare|Marrubium vulgare}}

• Everist, D.L. (1981) Poisonous Plants of Australia. 3rd ed. (Angus & Robertson: Sydney). {{ISBN|0-207-14228-9}}
• Parsons, W. & Cuthbertson, E. (2001) Noxious Weeds of Australia. 2nd ed. (CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood). {{ISBN|0-643-06514-8}}

{{Wikispecies}}

• [https://indiabiodiversity.org/species/show/230332 India Biodiversity Portal]
• [https://trefle.io/explore/species/marrubium-vulgare Marrubium vulgare, Trefle]

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vulgare

Category:Flora of North Africa

Category:Flora of Europe

Category:Flora of Asia

Category:Herbs

Category:Medicinal plants

Category:Plants described in 1753

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Category:Traditional medicine

Category:Candy