116 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



thus, the name by which the giant hyssop was once known, 

 means crest and flower and aHudes to the dense terminal flower- 

 spikes, Agastache, the term by which the genus is now desig- 

 nated, has somewhat the same meaning" being derived from 

 words meaning much and an ear of corn (wheat). The hitter 

 half of the name may also lie translated to mean flower-spike 

 as in Stacliys the name of the hedge nettle. Pycuanthcuiuui 

 means "dense blossom" in allusion to the compact inflores- 

 cences of this genus. 



The genus LiUiiiitin. from which the family name Lam- 

 iaceae is derived, is by some assumed to come from the Greek 

 for throat, in reference to the open or ringent corolla. Wood, 

 however, says that the name comes from Lamia the name 

 of a sea-monster "to which the flowers may l)e likened." 

 Botanists have seen other resemblances in the flowers of this 

 family to various animals, fabulous and otherwise, as in 

 Dracoccpluditiii which is literally "dragon-head". Lcoiiitnts 

 means "lion's tail" and Galcopsis comes from two words sig- 

 nifying weasel and appearance. Lycopus, means wolf's foot 

 and refers to the leaves of the plant. Melissa also refers to 

 an animal hut the reference is suggested by its attractiveness 

 for bees — iiicl is Greek f(jr honey — rather than from any re- 

 semblance of the plant to bees. 



Scutellaria is from sciifclla, a dish, in allusion to the 

 shape of the calyx, and Trichostemnia is from Greek words 

 meaning hair and stamen and refers to the slender filaments. 

 Physostegia means "bladder" and "a covering" and is said to 

 have been bestowed on our species from the fact that the calyx 

 becomes somewhat inflated in fruit. The sterile cells of the 

 anthers in Synandra cohere, hence the naiue from words sig- 

 nifying "together" and "anther". The hairy fringe on the 



