Motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca), a plant of the natural order Labiatæ, found about hedges and in waste places in Europe, and now abundantly naturalised in some parts of North America. It is not very common in Britain, and probably has been introduced. It is perennial, has a branched stem about 3 feet high, stalked leaves, the lower ones 3-lobed, and crowded whorls of reddish-white flowers. The plant was formerly in much use as a domestic pectoral medicine, but is now comparatively little employed. It has a strong, but not agreeable smell.—Other species of the same genus are found in Europe and the north of Asia.
(Leonurus cardiaca).