About Lamium bifidum Cirillo
Lamium bifidum Cirillo is an annual herbaceous plant. It has an erect or decumbent stem, produces white flowers, and has a deeply bifid lower lip. Its flowers grow in verticillasters that hold 20 or more individual flowers, and these flowers are sometimes cleistogamous. Analysis of the essential oil from Lamium bifidum bracts and leaves found the most abundant constituents to be germacrene D at 34.9%, β-caryophyllene at 11.5%, and α-Humulene at 6.8%. This profile differs from the primary constituents found in the species' flowers, which are myrcene at 47.2%, β-caryophyllene at 11.8%, and sabinene at 11.0%. This species has a chromosome count of 2n = 18. Lamium bifidum has a broadly Mediterranean distribution. One or more subspecies have been recorded in parts of Bulgaria, Corsica, Crete, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Sardinia, Spain, Tunisia, and the former Yugoslavia. It grows in open spaces and clearings, waste places, mountain slopes, and forest edges. One chemical constituent of Lamium bifidum, hesperetin, has been found to have anti-estrogen activity, and properties that inhibit tumorigenesis and breast cancer cells.
