MINT FAMILY. 247 



4. 6CIMUM, SWEET BASIL. (Greek name, referring to the odor, the 

 herbage sweet-scented. ) 



O. Basilicum, SWEET BASIL. Low sweet-herb, of kitchen-gardens, from 

 India, with ovate somewhat toothed leaves, ciliate petioles and calvx, and bluish- 

 white nu-emed (lowers, in summer. 



5. COLEUS. (Name from the Greek word for sheath, alluding to the inona- 



dclphoiis >tamens.) 



C. Blumei, of Java, especially its var. VERSCHAFFELTII, the showy spe- 

 cies of ornamental grounds in summer, planted for its richly-colored ovate pointed 

 and coarsely toothed leaves, either blotched with crimson or bronze-red, or almo.-t 

 wholly colored ; the inconspicuous flowers blue or bluish and racemed. 



6. HYPTIS. (From a Greek word meaning reversed.) Fl. late summer. 



H. radiata. Low ground, North Carolina & S. : stems 2 -4 high; 

 leaves lance-ovate, toothed ; flowers white or purple-dotted, small, crowded in 

 peduncled whitish-involucrate heads. ^ 



7. LAVANDULA, LAVENDER. (From Latin lavo, to lave, for which 

 Lavender-water is used.) 



L. vera, GARDEN L. Cult, from S. Europe : a low tmdershrub, barely 

 hardy N., hoary, with lance-linear leaves, and slender spikes of bluish small 

 flowers on long terminal peduncles, in summer. 



8. PERILLA. (Name unexplained.) Natives of China ana Japan. 



P. ocimoides, var crispa, or P. NANKINENSIS of the gardens, a bal- 

 samic-scented much-branched herb, cult, for its foliage, the ovate-petioled leaves 

 in this variety dark purple or violet-tinged beneath, bronze-purple above, the 

 margins wavy and deeply cut-toothed, the insignificant rose-colored or whitish 

 flowers in panicled spike-like racemes, in late summer. 



9. MENTHA, MINT. (Ancient Greek and Latin name.) One native 

 and two very common naturalized European species, mostly spreading rap- 

 idly by running rootstocks ; leaves toothed ; the small flowers purplish- 

 bluish, or almost white, in summer. ^/ The following common Mints 

 all in wet places. 



M. viridis, SPEARMINT. Nearly smooth, with oblong o ' lance-ovate wrin- 

 kled-veiny sessile leaves, and flowers in narrow terminal spikes. 



M. piperita, PEPPERMINT. Smooth, with ovate acute petioled leaves, and 

 whorled clusters of flowers forming loose interrupted spikes. 



M. Canadensis, WILD MINT. Along shaded brooks ; pleasant-scented, 

 hairy or a smooth variety, with ovate or lance-oblong acute or pointed leaves on 

 short petioles, and whorls of flowers in the axils of some of the middle pairs. 



10. LYCOPUS, WATER-HOREHOUND. (Name in Greek means 

 foot ) Resembling the Wild Mint, but bitter, and not aromatic, commonly 



producing slender sometimes tuber-bearing runners from the base, smooth, the 



very small white flowers close-clustered in the axils of the leaves, in summer. 



Wild in shady moist soil. 2/ 



L. Virginicus, BCGLEWEED. Common N. ; stems blunt-angled, G' - 18' 

 high ; leaves mostly lance-ovate and merely toothed ; calyx-teeth 4, ovate and 

 bluntish. Used in medicine. 



L. EuropSBUS, under several varieties : common N. & S., is taller, with 

 sharply 4-angled stems, ovate-oblong or laneeulate leaves cither toothed or pin- 

 natifid, many flowers in the clusters or whorls, and 5 calyx-teeth rigid and 

 sharp-pointed. 



