Australian bugle

Ajuga australis, the Australian bugle or austral bugle, is a low, soft-stemmed perennial herb in the family Lamiaceae widespread across eastern and southern Australia, where it grows in a wide range of habitats from coastal grassland and sclerophyll woodland to alpine herbfield. Plants are 10-40 cm tall, with erect to ascending, square stems clothed in soft, often dense white hairs. The opposite leaves form a basal rosette and decrease in size up the stem; they are obovate to spathulate, 2-10 cm long, coarsely toothed to deeply lobed, and softly hairy on both surfaces. Whorls of two-lipped flowers are arranged in dense, leafy, terminal spikes; the corolla is typically pale violet to deep purple-blue, occasionally pink or white, with a long, three-lobed lower lip and a reduced upper lip characteristic of the genus. It flowers chiefly in spring and early summer.