5. Nepeta L. Catmint 



A genus of about 250 species, all of which are natives of Eurasia and Africa. 

 1. Nepeta Cataria L. Catnip. 



Perennial erect herb with pale-green and densely canescent herbage; stems to 

 about 1 m. high, with ascending branches; leaves petioled, ovate to triangular- 

 ovate or oblong, to about 8 cm. long and 5 cm. wide, acute at apex, usually 

 cordate at base, coarsely dentate or crenate-serrate; flower verticils in the axis of 

 small foliaceous bracts to form dense or interrupted terminal spikes; bractlets 

 subulate; calyx urceolate. slightly oblique at apex, about 6 mm. long, very pubes- 

 cent, the 5 subulate teeth about half as long as the tube, short-pubescent on the 

 prominent 15 nerves; corolla white to pale-purple, dotted with dark-purple, 

 strongly 2-lipped, 1-1.2 cm. long, puberulent on the outer surface, the upper lip 

 erect and somewhat 2-lobed, the broad middle lobe of the 3-lobed lower lip 

 crenulate; stamens 4, all fertile, didynamous, ascending under the upper lip; 

 anther sacs 2, divergent; ovary deeply 4-parted; style 2-cleft at summit; cocci 

 ovoid, compressed, smooth. 



In waste places, along streams and in water of spring branches, in e. and 

 cen. Tex., n.e. Okla. and Wichita Mts. (Waterfall), N. M. (widely established as 

 a weed) and Ariz. (Navajo, Coconino, Yavapai and Cochise cos.), May-Sept.; a 

 nat. of Eur. that is naturalized in various parts of N. A. 



6. Dracocephalum L. Dragon-head 



About 45 species, all but ours are Eurasian. 

 1. Dracocephalum parviflorum Nutt. Fig. 663. 



Annual, biennial or short-lived perennial herb from a taproot; the solitary 

 or more often clustered stems 1.5-8 dm. tall, simple or branched, inconspicuously 

 strigose or hirtellous with retrorse hairs; leaves obscurely short-hairy, petiolate, 

 the lower small ones relatively broad and often soon deciduous, the other ones 

 with elliptic-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or broadly triangular-lanceolate blades 

 2.5-8 cm. long and 1-2.5 cm. wide, coarsely serrate or somewhat incised with the 

 teeth often spine-tipped; inflorescence dense and spikelike, 1.5-3.5 cm. thick, 

 often interrupted below, the terminal segment 2-10 cm. long; bracts subfoliaceous, 

 mostly 1-3 cm. long, nearly or quite sessile, aristately few-toothed; flowers short- 

 pedicellate, rather numerous in each verticil; calyx loosely hirsute or subglabrous, 

 about 1 cm. long, the tube equaling the aristate-tipped lobes; upper calyx lobe 

 broadly ovate-oblong, conspicuously wider but not much longer than the narrowly 

 triangular-lanceolate lateral and lower lobes; corolla purplish, scarcely surpassing 

 the calyx, villous on outer surface, with short lips; anthers nearly equaling the 

 upper corolla lip. Moldavica parviflora (Nutt.) Britt. 



Wet meadows, along streams and on edge of marshy areas, open-wooded slopes, 

 N. M. (widespread in mts.) and Ariz. (Apache, Coconino, Mohave, Yavapai, Gila, 

 Maricopa and Pinal cos.), May-Aug.; Can. to N. M. and Ariz. 



According to Kearney and Peebles, the Havasupai Indians are reported to make 

 flour from the seeds of this plant. 



7. Prunella L. 



About 7 species of world-wide distribution. 



1. Prunella vulgaris L. Common self-heal, heal-all, carpenter-weed. Fig. 

 663A. 



Perennial herb with simple or several stems and slender rootstocks, tufted or 

 loosely ascending from leafy-tufted bases, to about 6 dm. high, usually much 



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