Betonica officinalis has been gathered and grown across Europe for so long that its medicinal reputation in herbalism preceded its horticultural one by many centuries. It grows naturally in meadows, hedgerows, and the edges of open woodland, forming slow-spreading clumps of heart-shaped, heavily veined leaves on long stalks, each leaf rough to the touch and glandular with a bitter aromatic oil. The stem leaves are smaller and stalkless, arranged in opposite pairs at wide intervals, and from between them emerge the flowers: purple-red, lipped, arranged in whorls on a spike that has a distinctive interrupted rhythm, bare stem between each cluster.

In the garden it suits a sunny or lightly shaded spot in well-drained, neutral to slightly acidic soil, and once established tolerates drought with equanimity. It spreads slowly and seeds itself gently — present without being invasive. Mass it at the front of a border or let it naturalize at the edge of a meadow planting where bees will find it through the long summer. Slugs and snails will take the occasional bite from the foliage but rarely cause serious trouble. A plant with a long memory and an easy manner, belonging in any garden that values usefulness alongside beauty.