237 



1- or 2-seeded indehiscent cells. Mr. Brown remarks, that although all the 

 genera of Vcrbenaceac have an embryo whose radicle points towards the base 

 of the fruit, yet many of them have pendulous seeds, and consequently a radicle 

 remote from umbilicus. Flinders, 567. Aug. dc St. Hilaire asserts, that all, 

 except Avicennia, have a sessile erect ovulum arising from the base of each 

 cell. PI. Usuelles, 40. Mr. Brown, however, places Avicennia in Myoporineae. 



Geography. Rare in Europe, northern Asia, and North America; com- 

 mon in the tropics of both hemispheres, and in the temperate districts of South 

 America. In the tropics they become shrubs, or even gigantic timber, but in 

 colder latitudes they are mere herbs. 



. Properties. Not of much importance in a medicinal or economical point 

 of view. Callicarpa lanata bark has a peculiar subaromatic and slightly bit- 

 terish taste, and is chewed by the Cingalese when they cannot obtain Betel 

 leaves; the Malays reckon the plant diuretic. Ainslie, 2. 180. Stachytar- 

 pheta jamaicensis is a plant to which the Brazilians attach the same false no- 

 tions of powerful action as Europeans formerly did to the common Vervain. 

 Its leaves are sometimes used to adulterate Chinese Tea, and have even been 

 sent to Europe under the name of Brazilian Tea. PL Usuelles, p. 39. M. 

 Auguste St. Hilaire speaks in terms of high praise of the agreeable properties 

 of the aromatic Lantana pseudo-thea, used in infusion as tea. It is highly es- 

 teemed in Brazil, where it is vulgarly called Capitao do matto, or Cha de pe- 

 dreste. Ibid. p. 70. The root of Premna integrifolia is cordial and stomachic 

 in decoction. Ainslie, 2. 210. Silex exists in abundance in the wood of the 

 Teak Tree (Tectona grandis), which belongs here. Ed. P. J. 3. 413. The 

 properties formerly ascribed to the Vervain appear to have been imaginary. 



Examples. Verbena, Vitex, Clerodendron, Callicarpa. 



CCXXI. LABIATES. The Mint Tribe. 



Labiatje, Jvss. Gen. 110. (1789); R. Brown Prodr. 499. (1810) ; Mirbel in Ann. Mus. IB. 

 213. (1810) ; Lindl. Synops. 196. (1829) ; Bentham in Bot. Reg. (1829.) 



Diagnosis. Monopetalous dicotyledons, with a superior 4dobed ovarium, 

 and irregular unsymmetrical flowers. 

 Anomalies. 



Essential Character. — Calyx tubular, 5 or 10-toothed, inferior, persistent, the odd 

 tooth being next the axis ; regular or irregular. Corolla monopetalous, hypogynous, bilabiate ; 

 the upper lip undivided or bifid, overlapping the lower, which is larger and 3-lobed. Stamens 

 4, didynamous, inserted upon the corolla, alternately with the lobes of the lower lip, the 2 

 upper sometimes wanting; anthers 2-celled ; sometimes apparently unilocular in consequence 

 of the confluence of the cells at the apex ; sometimes 1 cell altogether obsolete, or the 2 cells 

 separated by a bifurcation of the conncctivum. Ovarium deeply 4-lobed, seated in a fleshy 

 hypogynous disk ; the lobes each containing 1 erect ovulum ; style 1, proceeding from the base 

 of the lobes of the ovarium; stigma bifid, usually acute. Fruit 1 to 4 small nuts, enclosed 

 within the persistent calyx. Seeds erect, with little or no albumen ; embryo erect , cotyledons 

 flat. — Herbaceous plants or under- shrubs. Stem 4-cornered, with opposite ramifications. 

 Leaves opposite, divided or undivided, without stipule, replete with receptacles of aromatic 

 oil. _ Flowers in opposite, nearly sessile, axillary cymes, resembling whorls ; sometimes as if 

 capitate. 



Affinities. The 4-lobed ovarium, with a solitary style arising from the 

 base of the lobes, has no parallel among monopetalous orders, except in Bora- 

 gineae, to which Labiatae must be considered as most closely allied. They 

 differ in the latter having not only an irregular corolla, but not more than 2 or 



