Otostegia fruticosa ssp. schimperi (Benth.) Sebald  

1. Otostegia fruticosa (Forssk.) Schweinf. ex Penzig in Atti Congr. Bot. Genova: 356 (1893). Plate Lab. 22 =Clinopodium fruticosum Forssk. (1775). شرم - شكب Arabic Name : Sharm, Shakab Erect, much-branched subshrub with a slender branches up to c. 1.5 (-2) m tall. Leaves petiolate, ovate, up to c. 4 cm long, crenate, pubescent, densely so on the lower surface, obtuse. Verticillasters remote, few-to several-flowered. Flowers white, c. 20 mm long. Calyx with a bilabiate limb, the lower lip much longer than the upper, projecting outwards, crenate margined. Corolla bilabiate; the upper lip villous, bearded along margin. Stamens tucked under the upper lip. Saudi Arabia : Western heights. Distribution: E. Africa, Egypt and Arabia. Note: The more robust material of this species with a much larger lower lip is regarded as ssp. fruticosa while the slender form with longer internodes, and a relatively modestly elongated lower lip is considered as ssp. schimperi (Benth.) Sebald (Stuttg. Beitr. Naturk., ser. A, Biol 263: 66, 1973), both of which are known from Saudi Arabia