Mountain tea
Botanical name: Sideritis
Mountain tea
Botanical name: Sideritis
Description
Mountain teas are abundant in Mediterranean regions, the Balkans, the Iberian Peninsula and Macaronesia, but can also be found in Central Europe and temperate Asia. Some schemes recognize and categorize up to 319 distinct species, subspecies, ecotypes, forms or cultivars. The genus is composed of short (8 to 50 cm), xerophytic subshrubs or herbs, annual or perennial. It is pubescent, either villous or coated by a fine, woolly layer of microscopic intertwined hairs. 
Species of Mountain tea
Hairy ironwort
Sideritis hirsuta is a perennial plant up to 50 cm in height, with stems containing at least a few long, more or less straight, protruding trichomes. The leaves are 1 to 2 cm long and 4 to 10 mm wide. They are usually reversed-ovate elongated, green or gray-green colored and slashed at the edge serrated or slotted-notched.
Hyssop-leaved mountain ironwort
In the wild, you will find the attractive-looking hyssop-leaved mountain ironwort growing in the Spanish and Italian mountains at high altitudes. Sideritis within the Latin name translates to 'he who is made of iron', which is thought to relate to the plant's sepal, which bears a resemblance to a spear tip.
Scientific Classification
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