| Perilla frutescens | |
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Beefsteak Plant
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| Origin Of Species | |
| India | |
| Physical Description | |
| Beefsteak plants are small, freely branching annual herbs that reach between eighteen and thirty inches in height. Small ovate leaves are generally purple or green and are arranged in an opposite formation along the four-sided stem. Small bell-shaped flowers are white and purple with a distinctive ring of fine hairs along the bottom. They may be arranged in a terminal cluster or within the leaf axils and appear between July and October. Stems and leaves have a very strong characteristic odor. | |
| Habitat And Distribution | |
| Beefsteak plants are prominent along roadsides, pastures, fields, and woodlands throughout the central, eastern, and southern United States. | |
| Location On Campus | |
| Beefsteak plants are common roadside weeds along River Road. | |
| Negative Impacts | |
| Often planted as showy ornamentals, beefsteak plants may readily escape cultivation, spreading to disturbed areas where they disrupt native ecosystems. They are toxic and thus have very few predators, which allows them to spread virtually unchecked. | |
| VDCR Invasiveness Ranking | |
| Occasionally Invasive Species Additional Images: Leaves with stem Leaves with stem |
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