CLASS XIV. ORDER I.] NEPETA. 809 



equal, many flowered, globose ; bracteas numerous, bristle-shaped, 

 ciliated. 



English Botany, t. 140 L — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 106.— Hoolier, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 234. — Melissa Clinopodium, Benth. — 

 Lindley, Synopsis, p. 202. 



Stem erect, or ascending about a foot high, simple, obtusely angular, 

 mostly pinkish, and more or less clothed with soft pubescence. Leaves 

 distant, especially the upper ones, ovate, or ovate oblong, on slender 

 footstalks, unequally and obscurely serrated, more or less clothed with 

 soft pubescence, paler on the under side. Inflorescence terminal and 

 axillary, crowded globose whorls of numerous flowers, the pedicles 

 short, round, downy, bracteas numerous, bristle-shaped, almost as long 

 as the calyx, ciliated, with long slender white hairs. Calyx long, 

 tubular, curved downwards from about the middle, ribbed, and clothed 

 with soft hairs, the long ones simple, the shorter tipped with a small 

 globose gland, the teeth slender, awl-shaped. Corolla purple, much 

 longer than the calyx, downy externally, the tube dilated upwards, the 

 upper lip short, plane, notched, the lower trifid, the middle lobe large, 

 notched, and with a yellow protuberance at the base on each side. 

 Seeds small, pale brown, triangular, ovate. 



Habitat. — Hills in dry bushy places ; common. 



Perennial; flowering in August and September. 



The whole plant has a sweet aromatic odour, much less powerful 

 than the Thymes or Mints. The stem is usually simple, sometimes in 

 luxuriant plants it is slightly branched. 



GENUS VI. NEPETA — Linn. Cat-mint. 



Nat. Ord. Labia 'tje. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Calyx tubular, five toothed, many ribbed. Corolla with 



the upper lip plane, bifid, the lower three-cleft, the lateral lobes 



reflexed, the middle one round, crenated, and concave. — Name 



said to be derived from Nepet, a town in Tuscany. 



1. N. Cata'ria, Linn. (Fig. 931.) Cat-mint, or Nep, Stem erect, 



branched ; leaves cordato-ovate, deeply serrato-dentate, petiolated, finely 



downy, especially beneath ; flowers in densely whorled spikes ; bracteas 



awl-shaped, nearly as long as the calyx ; calyx ovale, ribbed, the 



mouth oblique, the teeth subulate ; seeds smooth. 



English Botany, t. 137. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 71. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 233. — Lindley, Synopsis, p 202. 



Root with numerous branched fibres. Stem erect, from two to three 

 feet high, obtusely quadrangular, branched, and clothed like the rest 

 of the plant with close soft hoary pubescence. Leaves petiolated. 



