MINT T-AMILT. 249 



16. ORIGANUM, marjoram. (Old Greek name, said to mean ddight 

 of mountains.) Natives of the Old World : sweet-herbs: fl. summer. 2/ 



O. VUlg^re, Wild Marjoram. Old gardens, and wild on some road- 

 sides ; l°-2° high, with small ovate nearly entire leaves, on short petioles, and 

 purplish flowers in corymbed purple-bracted clusters or short spikes ; calyx 

 equally 5-toothed. 



O. Major^na, Sweet Marjoram. Cult, in kitchen-gardens (as an ®) ; 

 leaves small and finely soft-downy ; the bracts not colored ; flowers whitish or 

 purplish, with calyx hardly toothed but cleft nearly down on the lower side. 



17. THYMUS, THYME. (Ancient Greek and Latin name.) Low or 

 creeping slightly woody-stemmed sweet-aromatic plants of the Old World : 

 fl. small, in summer. Leaves in the common species entire, small, from 4' 

 to neai- 1' long, ovate, obovate or oblong with tapering base. y. 



T. Serp;^llum, Creeping Thyme. Cult, as a sweet herb, rarely a little 

 spontaneous ; creeping, forming broad flat perennial turfs ; leaves green ; 

 whorls of purplish or flesh-colored flowers crowded or somewhat spiked at the 

 ends of the flowering branches. 



T. VUlg^is, Common Thyme. Rarely cult., more upright and bushy 

 tlian the other, pale and rather hoary ; flowers in shorter clusters. 



18. SATUREIA, SAVORY. (The ancient Latin name.) Aromatic: 

 fl. summer. 



S. hortensis, Summer Savory. Low and homely sweet herb of the gar- 

 dens, sparingly run wild W., with oblong-linear leaves tapering at base, and 

 pale or purplish small flowei's clustered in their axils, or running into panicled 

 spikes at the end of the branches. ® 



19. CALAMINTHA, CALAMINTH. (Greek for beautiful 3Ii7it.) Fl 

 summer. ^ 



§ 1 . Flowers loose in the axils, or above running into racemes or panicles. 



C. glabella. A delicate native but uncommon species, only from Niagara 

 Falls W. : smooth, with weak stems 5' - 20' long, also with creeping runners, 

 oblong or almost linear leaves, or ovate on the runners, the loose purplish flow- 

 ers about ^' long. 



C. N6peta, Basil-Thyme. Nat. from Eu. from Virginia S. : soft-downy, 

 branching, l°-2° high, with round-ovate crenate leaves, small and loose purple 

 flowers, and calyx hairy in the throat. 



§ 2. Flowers in terminal heads or head-like whorls, crowded with awl-shaped bracts. 



C. Clinopbdium, Basil. Waste grounds and along thickets ; hairy, 

 with rather simjile stems l°-2° long, ovate and nearly entire petioled leaves, 

 and pale purple small corollas. 



20. MELISSA, BALM, BEE-BALM. (Old name from Greek for bee.) 

 Old- World sweet herbs. Fl. summer. ^ 



M. ofScln^lis, Common B. Gardens, sparingly running wild ; rather 

 hairy, loosely-branched, lemon-scented, with ovate or scarcely heart-shaped cre- 

 nate-toothed leaves, and yellowish or soon white flowers in small loose axillary 

 clusters. 



21. SALVIA, SAGE. (From the Latin salvo, to save, from its reputed 

 healing qualities.) 



§ 1. Wild Sages of the country, all with blue or partly white corollas. ^ 

 * Upper lip of calyx 3-toothed: lower cell of the anther present but deformed. 

 S. lyr^ta. Sandy soil from New .Jersey to 111. & S. : l°-2° high, rather 

 hairy, with leaves mostly at the root and obovate or lyre-shaped, and a smaller 



1)air on the stem ; whorls of flowers forming an interrupted raceme ; corolla 

 lardly 1' long. 



