DIDYNAMIA— GYMNOSPERMIA. Prunella. 115 



down into 2 spinous-pointed segments. Cor. ringent ; 

 tube short, cylindrical ; throat longer and wider ; upper 

 lip concave, entire, inflexed ; lower reflexed, in 3 round- 

 ed, obtuse, crenate lobes, the middle one broadest. 

 Filam. awl-shaped, the 2 uppermost shortest, all forked, 

 more or less perfectly, at the summit. Anth. on the 

 lower branch of each filament, opening tranversely by 2 

 valves. Germ, four-lobed. Style thread-shaped, directed, 

 like the stamens, towards the upper lip, and on a level 

 with them. Stigma in two sharp recurved points. Seeds 

 4, oval, in the bottom of the closed, dry, reticulated 

 calyx. 

 Perennial, downy or roughish, Europaean herbs, M'ith un- 

 divided or pinnatifidZ^aws, and solitary, terminal, whorl- 

 ed, dense, bracteated spikes of dark blue, or purplish, 

 mo(S.oYo\.\^Jlowcrs. Herbage not aromatic. Species few, 



1. P. vtdgaris. Common Self-heal, or Slough-heal. 



All the leaves ovate-oblong, stalked. Teeth of the upper 

 lip of the calyx scarcely discernible. 



P. vulgaris. Linn. Sp. PI. 837 . Willd.v.3.\76. Fl.Br.OAG. Engl. 

 Bot.v. 14. t.96\. Curt. Loud. fasc. 4. t. 42. Mart. Rust. t.\37. 

 Hook. Scot. 185. Ft. Dan. t.9lO. 



Prunella. Rati Sijn. 238. Ger. Em. 632./. Fuchs. Hist. 62 1 ./. 



Brunella. Riv. Monop. Irr. t. 29. Dad. Pempt. 136./. 



B. n. 277. Hall. Hist. V.]. 120. 



Consolida minor. Matth. Valgr.v.2.3\2.f. Camer. Epit.7 03. f. 



/3. Brunella minor. Hall. Hist. v. 1. 120. Riv. Monop. Irr. t. 29. 

 /. 1; wanting in some copies. 



In meadows and pastures common. 



Perennial. July, August. 



Root somewhat creeping. Stems a span high, erect or ascending, 

 leafy, square, downy at the opposite sides with upright hairs ; 

 branched chiefly in the lower part. Leaves stalked, ovate or 

 oblong, acute or bluntish, crenate or wavy, or, in variety j3, 

 quite entire ; paler beneath, with downy ribs. Fl. numerous, 

 deep purplish blue, in dense, solitary, erect, cylindrical, whorled 

 spikes; each whorl of 6 flowers, subtended by a pair of broad, 

 obtuse, ribbed, partly coloured, hracteas, shorter than the calyx. 

 The barren branch of the 2 upper stamens is sometimes shorten- 

 ed and blunted. 



This herb is, in Germany, reckoned salutary for ulcerations of the 

 throat and mouth, called in the language of that country die 

 Breune, whence, says Ray, came the name of Brunella. Linnaeus 

 softened that barbarous appellation into Prunella, without ren- 

 dering it more classical. 



I 2 



