LAMIACEAE. 321 



Family 8. LAMIACEAE Lindl. 

 MINT FAMILY. 



Aromatic punctate herbs, or shrubs (a few tropical species trees), 

 mostly with 4-sided stems and simple opposite leaves; stipules none. 

 Flowers irregular, perfect, clustered, the inflorescence typically cyrnose, 

 usually bracteolate. Calyx inferior, persistent, 5-toothed or 5-lobed (rarely 

 4-toothed), mostly nerved. Corolla with a short or long tube, the limb 

 4-5-lobed, mostly 2-lipped, regular in a few genera ; upper lip 2-lobed, or 

 sometimes entire; lower lip mostly 3-lobed. Stamens borne on the corolla- 

 tube, typically 4 and didynamous, sometimes 2, rarely equal ; filaments 

 separate, alternate with the corolla-lobes; anthers 2-celled, introrse, or con- 

 fluently 1-celled, or sometimes of a single sac. Disk usually present, fleshy. 

 Ovary 4-lobed, or 4-parted, superior, each lobe or division with 1 mostly 

 anatropous ovule ; style arising from the centre of the lobed or parted 

 ovary, 2-lobed at the summit. Fruit of 4 1-seeded nutlets. Seed erect 

 (transverse in Scutellaria] ; endosperm scanty, or none; embryo mostly 

 straight ; radicle short, inferior. About 160 genera and 3200 species, of 

 wide distribution. The family is also known as LABIATAE. 



Stamens and style very short, included in the corolla-tube. 1. 



Stamens and style longer, more or less exserted. 

 Corolla strongly 2-Iipped, the upper lip concave. 

 Anther-bearing stamens 4. 



Calyx distinctly 2-lipped, closed in fruit. 2. Prunella. 



Calyx not 2-lipped, open in fruit. 

 Nutlets 3-sided, truncate. 



Calyx-teeth not spiny-tipped. 3. La HI in in. 



Calyx-teeth spiny-tipped. 



Calyx-teeth 5. 4. Leonurus. 



Calyx-teeth 8-10. 5. Leonotis. 



N 7 utlets ovoid, rounded above. 6. Stacli.H*. 



Anther-bearing stamens 2. 



Inflorescence terminal. 7. Salvia. 



Inflorescence axillary. 8. Rosmarinus. 



Corolla regular, or 2-lipped with the upper lip flat or nearly so. 



Corolla 2-lipped. 9- Clinopodium. 



Corolla nearly regular or slightly 2-lipped, 4-5-lobed. 10. Mentha. 



1. SIDERITIS [Tourn.] L. 



Herbs or shrubs, with opposite leaves, and small flowers in axillary clus- 

 ters. Calyx tubular, 5-10-nerved, slightly 2-lipped, its teeth spiny-tipped, the 

 upper middle one broader than the others. Corolla longer than the calyx, t 

 lipped, the upper lip entire or lobed, the lower longer than the upper, its 

 middle lobe broad. Stamens 4, didynamous, included, the anterior pair the 

 longer; anthers 2-celled. Ovary 4-lobed. Nutlets obovoid, smooth. [Greek, 

 iron, referring to its use in medicine.] About 45 species, natives of the Old 

 World. Type species: Sideritis Mrsuta L. 



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