GAMOPETAL.E-I 



103 



the i:ilant is young. Still another pasture plant is the 

 Cow-wheat (Melamj^yrtim pratense). It is eaten by all 

 animals Avliile green; but it has been stated tliat if its 

 seeds ai"e present in any quantity in wheat-flour, the 

 bread prepared from the flour is apt to produce giddiness 

 when eaten. 



The Labiatae. — Dead-nettle Family. 

 This is an important family which has 

 no poisonous members, but which, on 

 the contrary, includes a number of 

 medicinal or sub- medicinal plants of 

 great value. Tlie identification of this 

 order is not difficult. Like the Scropl^u- 

 lariaceae, there are normally 5 sepals, ^'^ C2.~«, Pistii 



e;., ^ . iin of Lal.iutiL'. ^ Fruit 



petals, and 4 stamens to each flo^^■er. ofLahiaUc. 

 The pistil, however, is totally difterent. 

 If a olance be directed to the bottom of the tube foimed 

 hy the petals, a circular disk divided into quadrants will 

 be observed. Fx-om the centre of these rises a long style 

 vrhich terminates in a two-forked stigma (fig. 62, a). At 

 the fruit stac^e, four little sub-globular nutlets can be 



observed (fig. 62, h). This type 

 of pistil and fruit is formed only 

 in one other Natural Ordur be- 

 sides the Labiata?, namely in the 

 Boraginacese, from which thej^ 



tu 



are 



easily 



distinguished. 



In 



e a 



Fig. a3."«, Lavender Jlower. 



by Section of CoioUa, LaveiHlev 



iiddition, the Labiates 



square stem, and leaves arranged 



oppositely in pairs, each pair being set at right angles 



to the pair above it and to the pair below it 



The Lavenders.— The flower-heads of Lavandula 

 ^'^m, which compose Lavender, have too easily recog- 

 nizable an odour to need a special description; The 



wer is shown in fig. 6H, a an 



flo 



d h. 



;Vltli<>ugh not a 



