THE LABIATE FAMILY. 213 



labiatae. 

 The Labiate Family. 



This order contains 2600 species of 136 genera in 

 8 tribes. There are 19 genera in South Africa. It is 

 one of which the members, as a rule, can be readily 

 recognized. First, the square stem and opposite leaves 

 are universal. These features, coupled with the flowers 

 being clustered in the axils of the leaves or bracts, 

 looking as if they formed a whorl all round the stem, 

 must be noted. The flowers thus make a "false" 

 whorl, or Vcrticillastcr, each of the two clusters being a 

 glomcruU, or sessile cyme, and therefore "definite," for 

 the order in which they expand may be thus expressed : 

 3, 2, 3, 1, 3, 2, 3 (Fig. 85, I.). It is the same as in the 

 dichotomous cyme of Chickweed, described under the 

 family Cctryofhyllem. 



The flowers are always irregular and lipped, much 

 resembling many flowers of the orders Verhenacece, 

 Seropludarincce, Acanthcicecc, and others ; but each 

 order is, of course, known by a collection of characters, 

 and not by the shape of the corolla alone. 



Leono'tis. — The calyx has five sepals, and has strong 

 " ribs " down it. The significance of these will be 

 explained under Sal'via. It is slightly irregular or 

 divided into two halves, the posterior portion having 

 three sepals, the anterior two. The corolla has a 



