What is Ballota?
{{Taxobox | name = ''Ballota'' | image = Ballota nigra 2005.06.19 10.13.06-p6190007.jpg | image_width = 240px | image_caption = ''[[Ballota nigra]]'' | regnum = [[Plant]]ae | divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]] | classis = [[Magnoliopsida]] | ordo = [[Lamiales]] | familia = [[Lamiaceae]] | genus = '''''Ballota''''' | genus_authority = L. | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text. }} '''''Ballota''''' ('''horehound''') is a genus of about 35 species of [[flowering plant]]s in the family [[Lamiaceae]], native to temperate regions of [[Europe]], north [[Africa]] and western [[Asia]], with the highest diversity in the [[Mediterranean region]]. They are used as food plants by the [[larva]]e of some [[Lepidoptera]] including ''[[Coleophora]]'' case-bearers: ''C. ballotella'', ''C. lineolea'' (which has been recorded on ''B. nigra'') and ''C. ochripennella''. ==Species== *''[[Ballota acetabulosa]]'' *''[[Ballota frutescens]]'' *''[[Ballota hirsuta]]'' *''[[Ballota nigra]]'' - Black Horehound *''[[Ballota pseudodictamnus]]'' The genus is closely related to ''[[Marrubium]]'', with some species having been included in that genus in the past. {{biology-stub}} [[Category:Lamiaceae]]