206 A COMPENDIUM OF 
height of 6 to 18 inches, adorned with ovate- 
oblong leaves of a grayish green color, pubes- 
cent and opposite, and about an inch long, their 
margins serrated; the leaves are supported on 
long petioles. Flowers are white and in axil- 
lary whorls. The calyx differs from the other 
labiate mentioned, by having a ten-toothed ca- 
lyx and the flower lacking the lips usually found 
in the mint family. The stamens are four in 
number, The flowers when perfected have 
four small seeds situated at the bottom of the 
calyx. Horehound contains tannin, resin, a 
small quantity of volatile oil, and a peculiar 
crystallizable substance termed marrubin. 
Odor of horehound not peculiar, but the taste 
is aromatic and bitter. Its medical effects are 
tonic, stimulant, expectorant, and resolvent; 
also said to be anthelmintic, ‘There is no offic- 
inal preparation of horehound, but it is still in 
the primary list of remedies; principally used 
as an ingredient to cough candies, etc. The 
name is derived from the Hebrew marrob, bit- 
ter juice, 
Melissa, Balm, Melissa Officinalis.—Natural 
order Labiatze. This plant is a native of Eu- 
Tope and northern Asia, and naturalized and 
found growing in many parts of the world. The 
stem is erect and reaches a height of 1 or 2 feet, 
adorned with very green ovate acute leaves, 
somewhat cordate at the base and pubescent; 
the stem is invested with fine hairs also; flowers 
purple in color and tubular in form ; the corolla 
1s two lipped with four stamens. The medici- 
nal qualities of the Balm depend much upon the 
oil, like the rest of the Labiate, The constitu- 
