Yellow Archangel
Lamium galeobdolon
Click or tap the section titles below to learn more about this species!
CLASSIFICATION: What’s in a name?
Scientific Name: Lamium galeobdolon. The genus Lamium comes from Greek lamos and means throat, referring to the long, tubular flowers. The epithet, galeobdolon is of uncertain etymology.6
Common Name: Yellow Archangel. The common name refers to the silver blotches on the leaves, which resemble a pair of angel wings.
Family: Lamiaceae (Mint family). This is a very large and diverse plant family, with many familiar members. Mints can be recognized by their square stems, opposite leaves, and tubular flowers.
IDENTIFICATION: What does it look like?
Average Height: 6-12 inches
Description: An evergreen, perennial plant that grows in colonies, spreading by horizontal, creeping stems. The leaves are arranged opposite each other on the square stems, and are dark green, usually with silver or light green markings and soft hairs. The plants bloom in early spring, with upright clusters of tubular yellow flowers that have an upper lip which shades the mouth of the flower like a hood.
Bloom time: Mar – Apr
Notes: This species is commonly cultivated in gardens, and can be found escaping into nearby woodlands, where it can be invasive. Its spreading habit makes it a threat to native forest understory species, as it can easily crowd them out with its dense, evergreen foliage.
‘LOCATION: Where is it at home?
Range: Scattered in the northern half of Virginia’s mountains and Piedmont.4 Native of Eurasia. It can also be found as an invasive species in several other states and is considered a noxious weed in Washington.3,7
Geology/Soil: Typically found in loamy or sandy soil, either weathered in place from rocks rich in calcium and magnesium, or deposited by floods.
Habitat: Rich slope forests, floodplain forests, and disturbed urban forests.
CONNECTIONS: What are its relationships to other plants, animals, and humans?
Flora associations: Here in Virginia, this non-native invasive species can be found in a variety of disturbed forest habitats. Other invasive species occurring alongside it at this location include garlic mustard (Allaria petiolata), Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum), lesser celandine (Ficaria verna), and Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus). Native species in this forest include tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera), northern red oak (Quercus rubra), red maple (Acer rubrum), Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) and bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis).
Fauna associations: Lamium galeobdolon seeds have an attached nutrient-packed ‘elaiosome’–a tasty snack pack evolved to attract ants. These treats are especially attractive to winnow ants (genus Aphaenogaster), some of the most common ants in eastern deciduous forests. While winnow ants collect Lamium seeds in order to eat the elaiosomes, the ants generally don’t remove them from the seeds until they reach their nest. Once there they commonly discard the elaiosome-stripped seeds in a ‘midden’, the ant colony’s nutrient-rich waste pile, and a perfect place for seed germination.1,2 This strategy of using ants for seed dispersal (formally known as myrmecochory) is also common among many native spring ephemerals in our area, including spring beauty (Claytonia virginica), bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis), perfoliate bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata), and several species of violets (Viola spp.), among others.1
Human associations: This plant is often cultivated as an ornamental, though we strongly encourage you not to do so, since it is an invasive species. Other members of the genus Lamium have been documented to have medicinal properties, though L. galeobdolon has not.
Bibliography & Definitions
1 Clark, R. 2022. Are seed-dispersing ants elaiosome-limited? An experimental test in a Connecticut forest dominated by myrmecochorous plants. Food Webs 32 (2022)
2 In Defense of Plants. Episode 166 – Ants as Seed Dispersers a.k.a. The Myrmecochory Episode! June 24, 2018.
3 “2013 BONAP North American Plant Atlas. TaxonMaps.” Bonap.net, bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Lamium. Accessed 28 May 2024.
4 Virginia Botanical Associates. “Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora | Search Results for Lamium.” Vaplantatlas.org, 2024, www.vaplantatlas.org/index.php?s=lamium&c=&do=search%3Aadvanced&search=Search. Accessed 28 May 2024.
5 Weakley, Alan S, et al. Flora of Virginia. Fort Worth, Tex Botanical Research Institute Of Texas Press, 2013.
6 “Lamium galeobdolon – Plant Finder.” Www.missouribotanicalgarden.org, www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=d710. Accessed 28 May 2024.
7 San Juan County Noxious Weed Control Program Yellow Archangel.
Definitions:
Spring ephemeral: A perennial plant which grows early in the spring – before the trees grow leaves – to take advantage of the sunlight reaching the forest floor. In less than 2 months, the plant grows, blooms, and produces seed and then disappears from view as the leaves die back.
Myrmecochory: The formal term used for the dispersal of seeds by ants.
Invasive: An organism introduced to an area outside its native range which has become established to the point where it outcompetes native species. Typically, they are able to grow rampantly because they no longer have to contend with their natural predators. Do not plant invasives!