138 



LABIATAE. 



VOL. III. 



29. CLINOPODIUM L. Sp. PI. 587. 1753. 



[CALAMINTHA Moench, Meth. 408. 1794.] 



Herbs, or low shrubs, with entire or sparingly dentate leaves, and rather large flowers 

 variously clustered. Calyx tubular or oblong, mostly gibbous at the base, about 13-nerved, 

 2-lipped, naked or villous in the throat, the upper lip 3-toothed, the lower 2-cleft. Corolla 

 usually expanded at the throat, the tube straight, mostly longer than the calyx, the limb 

 2-lipped; upper lip erect, entire or emarginate; lower lip spreading, 3-cleft. Stamens 4, all 

 anther-bearing, didynamous, ascending under the upper lip of the corolla, somewhat con- 

 nivent in pairs, the longer mostly exserted; anthers 2-celled, the sacs divergent or divaricate. 

 Ovary deeply 4-parted; style glabrous, 2-cleft at the summit. Nutlets ovoid, smooth. [Greek, 

 bed-foot, the flowers likened to a bed-castor.] 



About 60 species, natives of the north temperate zone. Besides the following, 4 others occur 

 in the southeastern United States and in California. The genus has been included in Satureia by 

 authors. Type species : Clinopodium vulgar e L. 



* Flower-clusters dense, axillary and terminal, setaceous-bracted. i. C.vulgare. 

 ** Flower-clusters loose, axillary, or forming terminal thyrses; bracts small. 

 Plants pubescent ; introduced species. 



Clusters peduncled ; calyx not gibbous ; upper leaves very small ; perennial. 2. C. Nepeta. 



Clusters sessile ; calyx very gibbous ; plant leafy, annual. 3. C. Acinos. 



Plants glabrous ; native species. 



Leaves linear or the lower spatulate, entire ; corolla 4" long. 4. C. glabrum. 



Leaves oblong or oblong-lanceolate, serrate; corolla 6"-j" long. 5. C.glabellum. 



i. Clinopodium vulgare L. Field or Wild Basil. Basil-weed. Fig. 3652. 



Clinopodium vulgare L. Sp. PI. 587. 1753. 



Melissa Clinopodium Benth. Lab. Gen. & Sp. 393. 1834. 



Calamintha Clinop. Benth. in DC. Prodr. 12: 233. 1848. 



Perennial by short creeping stolons, hirsute; stem 

 slender, erect from an ascending base, usually branch- 

 ed, sometimes simple, i-2 high. Leaves ovate or 

 ovate-lanceolate, petioled, obtuse or acutish, entire, 

 undulate or crenate-dentate, rounded, truncate or 

 sometimes narrowed at the base, thin, i'-2i' long; 

 flowers in dense axillary and terminal capitate clus- 

 ters about i' in diameter; bracts setaceous, hirsute- 

 ciliate, usually as long as the calyx-tube; calyx pu- 

 bescent, somewhat gibbous, the setaceous teeth of 

 its lower lip rather longer than the broader ones of 

 the upper ; corolla purple, pink, or white, little ex- 

 ceeding the calyx-teeth. 



In woods and thickets, Newfoundland to North Caro- 

 lina, Tennessee, Minnesota and Manitoba, in the Rocky 

 Mountains to New Mexico and Arizona. Ascends to 

 4000 ft. in Virginia. Also in Europe and Asia. Stone- 

 basil. Bed's-foot. Field- or horse-thyme. Dog-mint. 

 June-Oct. 



2. Clinopodium Nepeta (L.) Kuntze. Field Balm. Field or Lesser Calamint. 



Basil-thyme. Fig. 3653. 



Melissa Nepeta L. Sp. PI. 593. 1753. 

 Cal. Nepeta Link & Hoffmansg. Fl. Port, i: 14. 1809. 

 Clinopodium Nepeta Kuntze, Rev. Gen. PI. 515. 1891. 

 Satureia Nepeta Scheele, Flora 26: 577. 1843. 



Perennial by a woody root and short rootstocks, 

 villous or pubescent; stem rather stout, at length 

 much branched, the branches nearly straight, ascend- 

 ing. Leaves broadly ovate, petioled, obtuse or acute, 

 crenulate with few low teeth, rounded or narrowed 

 at the base, the lower i'-i' long, the upper much 

 smaller and bract-like; flowers few in the numerous 

 loose peduncled axillary cymes, forming an almost 

 naked elongated thyrsus; bracts very small, linear; 

 calyx not gibbous, villous in the throat, about li" 

 long, the teeth of its lower lip twice as long as those 

 of the upper; corolla light purple 01 almost white, 

 about 4" long. 



In fields and waste places, Maryland to South Caro- 

 lina, Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky and Arkansas. Ber- 

 muda. Naturalized from Europe. Native also of Asia. 

 June-Sept. 



