106 DIDYNAMIA— GYMNOSPERMIA. Origanum. 



Cor. twice the length of the calyx, with a yellow hairy protube- 

 rance at each side of its mouth. 



298. ORIGANUM. Marjoram. 

 Linn.Gen.297. Juss.\\5. Fl.Br.638. Tourn.t.94. Lam.t.5\\. 



Invohicrum of numerous, imbricated, dilated, flat, coloured, 

 permanent leaves, one under each flower, longer than the 

 calyx, forming a quadrangular spurious catkin. Calyx 

 with an even, bluntly angular, tube, more or less per- 

 fectly one- or two-lipped, but various in the different 

 species. Co7\ ringent ; tube rather longer than the ca- 

 lyx, a little compressed ; throat slightly funnel-shaped, 

 rather longer than the tube, protuberant in front at the 

 base ; upper lip erect, nearly flat, obtuse, notched ; lower 

 in 3 deep, dependent, mostly equal, simple lobes. Filam, 

 thread-shaped, the 2 longest, at least, longer than the 

 corolla. Anth. distant, ovate, two-lobed. Germ, four- 

 lobed. Style thread-shaped, ascending. Stig7ua very 

 slightly notched. Seeds 4, ovate, in the bottom of the 

 closed, permanent calyx. 



Pungent and gratefully aromatic herbs, in some instances 

 rather shrubby ; with upright, leafy, branched or pani- 

 cled stems ; ovate, stalked leaves; and copious, purple, 

 or whitish, erect or drooping, often very elegant, Jlow- 

 ers. No genus can be more evidently natural ; but the 

 principal character, founded on the involucrum, is not 

 strictly classical. There are several beautiful Greek 

 species. 



1. O. vulgare. Common Marjoram. 



Heads of flowers roundish, panicled, crowded, erect. In- 

 volucral leaves ovate, smooth. Calyx with five acute 

 unequal teeth ; throat hairy. 



O. vulgare. Linn. Sp. PL 824. WiUd.v.3.\35. FLBr.639. Engl. 



Bot. V. 16. t. 1 143. Curt. Lond. fasc. 5. t. 39. fVoodv. t. 1 64. 



Hook. Scot. 184. Fl. Dan. t. 1581. Bull. Fr. t. 193. Matth. 



Valgr.v.2.62.f. Camer.Epit.469.f. Dcdech:Hist.887 .f. Ehrh, 



PL Of. 88. 

 O. n. 233. HalL Hist v.\.\ 02. 

 O. vulgare spontaneum. Raii Syn. 236. 

 O. anglicum. Ger. Em. 666. f. 



O. sylvestrCj seu vulgare. Fuchs. Hist. 552./. Ic. 315./. 

 Origanum. Riv. Monop. Irr. t. 60./. 1. 



In bushy places^ on a lime-stone or gravelly soil. 



