546 » ORD. XIX. Verticillate. oniGANUM MAJORANA. 
Ess. Gen. Ch. Strobilus te tragonus, spicatus, calyces colligens. 
Sp. Ch. 0. foltis ovatis obtusis, spicis subrotundis compactis 
pubescentibus. 
THE root is perennial, brown, and furnished with many long 
tough fibres: the stalks are numerous, woody, branched, square, 
and rise a foot and an half in height: the leaves are egg-shaped, 
obtuse, downy, entire, of a pale green colour, and stand in pairs — 
upon footstalks: the flowers are small, white, and appear succes- 
sively between the bracteal leaves, which are numerous, and form 
round compact terminal spikes: the calyx is tubular, and divided 
at the brim into ‘five pointed segments: the corolla consists of a 
funnel-shaped tube, divided at the limb into two lips, of which the | 
uppermost is erect and roundish; the undermost is cut into three 
pointed segments: the other parts of fructification resemble those 
of O. vulgare. The flowers appear in August. 
. This plant is thought to be the 2aydex~ or Amaracus of the an- 
cients:* it has been long cultivated in our gardens, and in frequent 
use for culinary purposes; but the place of which it is a native +has 
not yet been made known. 
The leaves and tops of Marjoram have a pleasant smell, and a 
moderately warm aromatic bitterish taste. They yield their virtues 
both to aqueous and spirituous liquors by infusion, and to water 
in distillation, affording also a considerable quantity of essential 
oil, amounting, according to Beaumé, to fifteen ounces from one 
hundred and fifty pounds “of the recent plant. This oil, on being 
long kept, assumes. a solid form. 
* The Amaracus is noticed both by Virgil and Catullus: 
ubi mollis amaracus illum - ‘ 
Floribus et dulci aspirans complectitur umbra. Jin. lib, i. v. 698. 
Cinge tempora floribus 
Suave olentis amaraci. Julice et Manliét Epithal. 
