45 2 
THE root is perennial, creeping 
• 
d befet with numerous ilende 
fibres : t; 
branches 
item is ere£t, fquare, purplifh 
nd rifes about a foot and a 
half 
y, prod 
in 
fland upon footft 
i 
P 
at thej 
and 
height : 
th 
p 
pofite 
leaves 
are ovate, point 
1 
e 
fomewh 
of 
of 
bract 
colour : the c 
d at the edges, above fmooth, beneath downy, and 
fhg 
the fl 
terminal 
purplifh colour, and ftand in p 
floral 
are 
Oi 
dun 
ers 
th 
fti. feffil 
d of a brownifh 
e 
d 
raents, 
f 
h 
is 
tub 
ar 
"> 
are 
unne 
fhaped tub 
fringed at 
g 
and 
the edg 
ded at tLe brim into five feg 
th 
corolla 
fift 
s 
of 
a 
the 
divided at th 
mb 
into 
two lips, of which the upper is ere£fc, bifid, obtufe ; the lower trifid, 
blunt, and fpreading : the filaments are four, two long and two fhort, 
of a purple colour, and furnifhed with double antherse : the germen 
divided into four p 
ilyle, 
from the centre of which rifes a filiform 
: the feeds 
crowned with a ftigma, which is bifid, and reflexed : 
four, egg- fhaped, and lodged in the bottom of the caty 
This pi 
chalky 
Auguit. 
h 
rows wild in many parts of B 
ls, a or gravelly foils, and produces 
It has an agreeable aromatic finell, 
ritain, efpecially on dry 
its flowers in July and 
approaching to th 
of 
oram 
5 
d a pung 
ft 
much refembling thy 
which 
likewife thought to be more nearly allied in its medicinal quali- 
than to any of the other verticillatse, and therefore deemed to be 
emmenag 
ue, tonic, ftomachic, Sec. Thefe effects 
only be afcribed to the aromatic and flimulant powers which all the 
herbs of this natural order feem to poffefs in common. Diftilled 
with water it yields a moderate quantity of very acrid penetrating 
eflential oil, which has been much ufed for < 
teeth, by dropp 
achine: tooth. 
Th 
dingiy gratefi 
dried 
for eafing the pain of carious 
d inferting it in the cavity of the 
I 
an 
dfo 
They 
u fe d 
alfo 
inftead 
mploye 
f 
faid to be 
in medicated baths 
me 
a Hence the derivation Origanum, opsyxvos montis gaudium, quod locis montanis 
deledetur. Vide Bod. in Theopb. p. 562. 
The country people ufe the tops of the plant to dye purple. Witherlng r l. c. 
ORIGANUM MAJORANA 
