806 CALAMINTHA. 1^1-^88 XIV. ORDER I. 



English Botany, t. 1143.— English Flora, vol. iii. p. 106. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. 1. p. 228.— Lindley, Synopsis, p. 201. 



Root with creeping suckers. Stem erect, from one to two feet high, 

 paniculated ahove, obtusely angular, mostly of a purplish hue, hairy, 

 especially on the opposite and alternate sides between the leaves, the 

 hairs soft and jointed. Leaves opposite, ovate acute, or oblong acute, 

 on short slender footstalks, entire, or toothed, nearly smooth above, 

 beneath hairy, pale, and scattered over with glandular dots. Injlu- 

 rescence a terminal panicle. Floivers in globose heads, surrounded with 

 ovate acute nearly smooth purple bracteas, without glandular dots. 

 Calyx tubular, with five acute often unequal teeth, hairy, the throat 

 surrounded with white hairs, the pedicle short, hairy. Corolla tube 

 dilated, the upper lip straight, notched, the lower three-cleft, the middle 

 lobe broad, somewhat heart-shaped. Stamens distant, protruding. 



Habitat.— WiUy and bushy places, especially in a dry soil ; frequent. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 



The leaves of this species abound in volatile oil, of an agreeable 

 aromatic odour and warm pungent taste, which is obtained by distilla- 

 tion with water ; it is acrid and irritating, and is considered as a useful 

 external irritating application. The infusion was esteemed as a warm 

 tonic, useful in debility of the stomach, but its use is now very limited. 

 The O. majorana is cultivated as a pot herb, and has a pleasanter less 

 acrid flavour than the O. vulgare ; but it is not now much used for 

 culinary purposes. The hairs of the stem and leaves are extremely 

 curious ; when examined with a magnifying glass, they are seen to be 

 composed of a number of elongated cells, and each cell alternately 

 compressed. 



GENUS IV. CALAMINTHA.— MoENCH. CalaminL 



Nat. Ord. Labia't^. Juss, 



Gen. Char. Flowers solitary, or numerous, in corymbose axillary 

 whorls. Calyx tubular, thirteen ribbed, cylindrical, or swollen at 

 the base, two lipped, the upper three toothed, the lower bifid, the 

 throat mostly hairy. Corolla with the upper lip nearly plane, the 

 lower one trifid, the middle lobe notched. — Name from xaXo?, 

 good ; and juivSa, mint ; an ancient Greek name of a plant, whose 

 scent drove away serpents. 



* Whorls of corymbose many Jlowered stalks. 

 I. C. officina'lis, Mcench. (Fig. 927.) Common Calamint. Whorls 

 of numerous flowers ; leaves ovate, nearly entire, hairy, as well as the 

 stem ; calyx slightly swollen at the base on the under side, the throat 

 with a ring of a few included hairs, the lower lip with awl-shaped 

 teeth, much longer than the upper. 



