ECHIALES.] 



LAMIACEyE. 



659 



Order CCLV. LAMIACEiE.— Labiates. 



Labiatae, Juss. Gen. 110. (1789) ; R. Brown Prodr. 499; Mirbel in Ann. Miis. 15. 213. ; Bentham in 

 Bot. Rcih (1829) ; Id. Gen. etSp. Labiatarum, (1832—1836); Endl. Gen. cxxxvi.; Meisner Gen. j;.282 ; 

 Walpers' Repertonum, 3. 483. — Oxereae, Fenzl. 



Diagnosis. — Echial ExogenSf irregular unsymmetrical fiowers, and 4 distinct nuts. 



Herbaceous plants or undex'-slinibs. Stem 4-cornered, with opposite ramifications. 

 Leaves opposite, divided or midivided, ^v^thout stipules, replete \\'ith receptacles of 



aromatic oil. Flowers in 

 opposite, nearly sessile, 

 axillary cymes, i*esem- 

 bling whorls ; sometimes 

 solitary or as if capitate. 

 Calyx tubular, infeinor, 

 persi.stent, the odd tooth 

 being next the axis ; regu- 

 lar 5- or 10-toothed, or 

 irregular bilabiate or 3- 

 to lO-toothed. Corolla 

 monopetalous, hypogy- 

 nous, bilabiate ; the upper 

 lip undivided or bifid, 

 overlapping the lower, 

 which is larger and 3- 

 lobed. Stamens 4, didy- 

 namous, inserted upon 

 the corolla, alternately 

 with the lobes of the 

 lower Up, the 2 upper 

 sometimes wanting ; an- 

 thers 2-celled; sometimes 

 apparently unilocular in 

 consequence of the con- 

 fluence of the cells at the 

 apex ; sometimes 1 cell 

 altogether obsolete, or 

 the 2 cells separated by 

 a bifui'cation of the con- 

 nective. Ovary deeply 4- 

 lobed, seated in a fleshy 

 hypogynous disk ; the 

 lobes each containing 1 

 erect ovule ; style 1 , pro- 

 ceeding from the base of 

 the lobes of the ovary ; 

 stigma bifid, usually 

 Fig. CCCCXLI. acute. Fruit 1 to 4 small 



nuts, mclosed within the persistent calyx. Seeds erect, with httle or no albumen ; 

 embryo erect ; cotyledons flat. . . \ ^a nn 



The 4-lobed ovary, with a solitary style arising from the base of the lobes, lias no 

 parallel among monopetalous didynamous Orders. The closest relation ot Labiate!, is 

 with Verbenest which chiefly diff-er in theii' undivided ovary. From Boragewoi^s tley 

 diff-er both m having an irregular coroUa, and not more than 2 or 4 stamens, wlulc uie 

 lobes of the corolla are 5, square stems and opposite leaves ; circumstances m wn cu 

 Labiates resemble some Figworts. From all Boragcworts they are known, in tne 

 absence of fructification, by their square stem and the numerous rescrvou-s oi on m 

 their leaves. According to Ginsehch, these reservo irs are not analogous to ttiosc oi 



Fig. CCCCXLI.-]. Salvia officinalis; 2 its corolla laid open; 3. its pistil; 4. the pistil and lower 

 part of the flower cut open ; 5. perpendicular section of a nut. 



