CATMINT 



Skullcap is not a very attractive name, and its 

 only service seems to be to note the fact that as the 

 calyx enlarges to accommodate its four nut-like seeds 

 it develops a crest which gives it the form of a tiny 

 helmet. Even the helmet must be searched for, 

 and it, perhaps, would fit Puck if he needed such a 

 thing. An interesting point about the blossoms is 

 the habit of the pair starting opposite one another in 

 the bud to swing round as they develop until they 

 stand side by side. The corollas are close-lipped 

 rather than gaping, the flowers solitary in the axils of 

 the leaves, and also in terminal bracted racemes. 



CATMINT. CATNIP 



Nepeta cataria 



The ancient Latin name of the plant supposed to be derived 

 from Nepete, an Etrurian city. 



Perennial. Found near dwellings and barns and along 

 the roadsides. Naturalized from Europe, also native to 

 Asia. New Brunswick and Quebec to South Dakota, 

 south to Virginia and Kansas. Pleasing aromatic taste 

 and odor. July-November. 



Stem. — Downy, erect, branched, square and grooved. 

 Two to three feet high. 



Leaves. — Heart-shaped, scalloped, downy underneath; 

 soft to the touch, fragrant. 



Flowers. — Small, two-lipped, white dotted with pur- 

 plish spots, in whorled clusters set in short, dense, round- 

 topped, terminal spikes, which are one to five inches long. 



Calyx. — Tubular, somewhat oblique, five-toothed, hairy. 



Corolla. — Tube enlarged at the throat, strongly two- 

 lipped; upper lip erect, notched, protecting the sta- 



177 



