212 MINT FAMILY 



dish flower-heads, which stand out on nearly naked branches. 

 The fragrance being likewise delightful, it seems a pity to 

 designate this altogether charming plant by the opprobrious 

 name of "Mustang Mint," by which it is sometimes known. 

 It grows in abundance in loose, warm soil, but not at high 

 altitudes. 



M. candicans Benth., is a foothill annual with nearly white 

 flowers, the bracts white-edged. 



2. M. odoratissima Benth. Mountain Pennyroyal. Stems 

 many, tough, 9 to 18 in. high, from a creeping perennial base. 

 Leaves ovate, entire, y$ to V/2 in. long, on petioles Yz in. or 

 less long, grayish hairy. Heads 1 in. across, surrounded by 

 thin purplish bracts. Flowers dull white. 



The leafy, perennial stems of the Mountain Pennyroyal 

 grow in low or depressed clumps on many of our dry slopes 

 in the pine forests, but the flower-heads terminate erect 

 shoots. The aromatic leaves, gathered preferably from old 

 plants, are sometimes used as a substitute for tea. This 

 beverage is seemingly of some value as a remedy for colic 

 and as a blood purifier. 



3. M. sheltonii Torr. Stems woody at base, as in M. odora- 

 tissima, of which this is perhaps only a form. Leaves oblong. 

 Bracts green and leaf-like in texture. — Also of the open pine 

 forests. 



9. KOELLIA. Mountain Mint. 

 1. K. californica O. Ktze. Stem erect, 2 to 4 ft. high, per- 

 ennial. Leaves stiff, broadly lanceolate, toothed (rounded 

 base and slender apex entire), 2 to 3^4 in. long, sessile. 

 Flowers white, in dense leafy-bracted whorls. Calyx-teeth 

 woolly. Corolla with notched flattish upper lip and 3-lobed 

 lower lip. Stamens 4, exserted, unequal. (Pycnanthemutn 

 californicum Torr.) — A stiff, gray herb of weedy meadows in 

 the Yosemite and similar valleys. 



10. MENTHA. Mint. 

 1. M. canadensis L. Stems 

 mostly simple, 1 to 3 ft. long, 

 from a perennial base, leafy to 

 the top. Leaves broadly lan- 

 ceolate, sharply toothed, \ l / 2 to 

 2 in. long, petioled. Flowers 

 small, pink, in dense whorls in 

 the leaf-axils, the corolla nearly 



