359 



Nepeta indica. Linn. Sp. PL p. 799. (excl. syn., fide Br.), 

 Willd. Sp. PI. V. 3. p. 57. 



Ballota disticha. Linn. Mant. p. 83. Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 1. 

 p. 304. 



Nepeta amboinica. Linn. Willd. (Spr.) 



Marrubium odoratissimuin. Burm. Zeyl. p. 153. t, ^\. f. 1. 



Annual. Stems erect, branched ; branches spreading, 

 diffuse, 4-sided, angles sharp, concave, villous, with reversed 

 hairs. Bra7ichlets opposite, axillary. Leaves rather long, 

 petioled, opposite, decussate, broadly subcordate, ovate, 

 entire at the base, above crenate, covered on both sides 

 with soft short hairs, which make them feel like velvet to 

 the touch, dark-green above, pale beneath. Whorls axillary, 

 on two or four short peduncles ; these, in old plants, become 

 elongated by the successive expansion of new flowers, into as 

 many recurved secund spikes, each flower furnished with two 

 linear subspathulate bracteas, about half the length of the 

 calyx. Calyx 5-cleft, divisions acute, slightly 10-furrowed, 

 finely transversely reticulated, particularly when held between 

 the eye and the light, haii-y, and a little glandular. Corolla 

 2-lipped ; upper lip shorter than the stamens, entire, blunt ; 

 under one large, 3-cleft, the lateral segments smaller, reflexed, 

 the middle one large, obcordate, with the sides bent back- 

 wards, of a fine reddish-purple colour, darker than any other 

 part of the corolla. Throat hairy ; bottom of the tube closed 

 with a nectariferous scale. Stamens : Filaments 4, two of 

 them a little shorter, erect, protruding from the tube, very 

 hairy. Anthers dissimilar, longer pair 1-, shorter 2-celled: cells 

 opening transversely. Pistil: Germew 4-par ted ; ^^^/e filiform, 

 increasing in thickness as it ascends, terminating in a 2-cleft 

 stigma. Seeds 4, naked, lenticular, bright shining black. 



This plant is extensively distributed over India, flowering 

 during the cool months, and ripening its seeds in March or 

 April. It is called Vethupudikei, which signifies heat-catcher, 

 on account of the cooling properties which it is said to possess 

 when administered in decoction, for the relief of liot bowel 

 complaints and dysentery. 



