Gratiola aurea
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Photo, Renee Brecht |
Britton & Brown |
| Botanical name: | Gratiola aurea |
| Common name: | golden hedgehyssop |
| Group: | dicot |
| Family: | Scrophulariaceae |
| Growth type: | shrub |
| Duration: | perennial |
| Origin: | native |
| Plant height: | 2 - 5' |
| Foliage: | leaves linear, lanceolate, oblong or ovate, somewhat clasping, entire or slightly toothed, opposite pairs. a creeping plant with fleshy stolons. |
| Flower: | yellow, 1/2" across, tubular at the base with 4 petal lobes; the top 2 lobes are fused into a dorsal, flat hood. |
| Flowering time: | early July to late August, sporadically into September |
| Habitat: | damp or muddy spots; wet, brackish, sand and mud of marshes, intertidal zones of coastal streams; wet woods, ditches (Hough 169) |
| Range in New Jersey: | inner coastal plain and Delaware bay shore |
| Heritage ranking, if any: | n/a |
| Distribution: |  |
| Misc. | Gratiols, diminutive of gratia, grace or favor, from supposed medicinal properties; aurea, golden |