LABIATE AND PERSONATE FLOWEKS. 15 



CHAPTER IV. 



OF LABIATE AND PERSONATE FLOWERS. 



The flowers we have hitherto examined are poly- 

 petalous. We now come to examine a tribe, whose 

 corolla is monopetalous, or of one piece, and also ir- 

 regubr in its outline, and, indeed, altogether so mark- 

 ed that we shall distinguish its members easily by 

 their general aspect. It is that to whose flowers Lin- 

 naeus has given the name of ringent, or gaping, ap- 

 pearing like so many projecting mouths divided into 

 an appropriate upper and under lip. This tribe is 

 separated into at least two orders ; one with labiate or 

 ringent flowers, properly so called, the entrance into 

 the corolla being always open ; and the other of per- 

 sonate or masked flowers, from the Latin persona, a 

 mask, in which the orifice of the corolla is closed by 

 a prominent palate. The character common to all 

 the tribe is then a monopetalous corolla, divided into 

 two lips, bearing often, under the upper, four stamens 

 in two pairs of unequal length, one of the pairs being 

 longer than the other. 



As a specimen of the perfect labiate flower we 

 may take up that of the Balm, Catmint, or Ground- 

 Ivy (Glechoma hederacea), the latter remarkable for 

 the disposition of its anthers into the form of a double 

 cross. In the Catmint, you will find a monopetalous, 

 labiate corolla, with the upper lip arched over the 

 stamina ; the lower lip is dependent, and consists prin- 

 cipally of one rounded, concave, and notched lobe, 

 characteristic of the genus or family. On removing 

 the corolla, which, as in all monopetalous flowers, car- 

 ries with it the stamina, you will find in the bottom of 

 the calyx, being tubular, lined, and terminated with 



