Wildflower (forb) · Lamiaceae
Virginia water horehound
Lycopus virginicus
Virginia water horehound is recorded as native to 32 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 906 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Virginia water horehound at a glance
- Native in
- 906 counties, across 32 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 4 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Tolerates shade High water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Virginia water horehound is recorded as native to 32 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 906 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 906 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 13 counties
- Arkansas 26 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 8 counties
- Georgia 20 counties
- Illinois 76 counties
- Indiana 43 counties
- Kansas 11 counties
- Kentucky 60 counties
- Louisiana 37 counties
- Maine 7 counties
- Maryland 1 county
- Massachusetts 13 counties
- Michigan 6 counties
- Minnesota 10 counties
- Mississippi 21 counties
- Missouri 55 counties
- Nebraska 12 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New York 24 counties
- North Carolina 81 counties
- Ohio 76 counties
- Pennsylvania 63 counties
- Rhode Island 4 counties
- South Carolina 26 counties
- Tennessee 61 counties
- Texas 7 counties
- Vermont 8 counties
- Virginia 91 counties
- Wisconsin 22 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 4 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Stoloniferous
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Tolerant (tolerates shade)
- Moisture use
- High water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 35 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 6.3
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- None
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 6 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 110
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- White
- Showy flowers
- Yes
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Dark Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Black
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Lamiaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- LYVI4
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Lycopus virginicus (PLANTS symbol LYVI4).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources