LAMIACE^, OR LABIATE. 



leaden blue, or white, with the tube protruding a little beyond the 

 calyx. — Has been employed as a cephalic medicine, relieving headach 

 and exciting the mind to vigorous action. It is principally remarkable 

 for its undoubted power of encouraging the growth of hair and curing 

 baldness ; it is in fact what causes the green colour of the best Poma- 

 tums used for that purpose; an infusion of it prevents the hair from 

 uncurling in damp weather ; it is moreover one of the plants employed 

 in the manufacture of Hungary water, the French vinaigre aux quatre 

 voleurs, and Eau de Cologne. The admired flavour of Narbonne honey 

 is ascribed to the bees feeding on the flowers of this plant. 



1011. Monarda fistulosa Linn, is decidedly bitter as well as 

 aromatic, and has been employed in the United States as a 

 febrifuge. 



1012. Monarda punctata Linn, abounds with camphor, and 

 has been employed as an antispasmodic, and to relieve the nau- 

 sea which attends the bilious fevers of America. 



AMARACUS. 



Calyx ovate, campanulate, 13-nerved at the base, smooth 

 inside ; upper limb long, entire, erect, lower truncate, minute. 

 Corolla with the tube projecting beyond the calyx, as long as 

 the imbricated bracts ; the upper lip erect, emarginate, nearly 

 flat, the lower spreading, with 3 nearly equal entire lobes. Sta- 

 mens 4, projecting, didynamous, scarcely apart ; anthers with 

 distinct diverging cells. Upper lobe of the style shorter than 

 the other. 



1013. A. Dictamnus Benth. lab. 333. — Origanum Dictam- 

 nus Linn. sp. 823. Bot. Mag. t. 298. — Rocks of Candia. 

 (Dittany of Crete.) 



A procumbent woolly shrub, about 1 foot high, with ascending 

 branches. Leaves sessile or short-stalked, subsessile, broad-ovate, 

 obtuse, entire, rounded at the base, thick, soft, woolly on each side. 

 Spikes on short stalks, about an inch long. Bracts loosely imbricated, 

 sessile, roundish, entire, smooth, membranous, coloured at the apex, the 

 exterior finely 5-nerved. Corolla not spurred. — Aromatic and tonic, 

 once in much repute among the Greeks and Romans, but not now used. 



ORIGANUM. 



Calyx ovate, tubular, 10-13-nerved, striated, with nearly 5 

 equal teeth ; the throat shaggy inside. Corolla with the tube 

 almost the length of the calyx; the upper lip suberect, emargin- 

 ate, the lower spreading, trifid, with nearly equal lobes. Stamens 

 4, protruding, distinct, somewhat didynamous. Lobes of style 

 nearly equal. 



1014. O. vulgare Linn. sp. pi. 824. Eng. Bot. t. 1143. 

 Bentham labiat. 335. — Europe, on chalky downs, and elsewhere, 

 the Mediterranean, and central Asia. (Wild Marjoram.) 



490 



