Melissa. — Salvia. 823 
M. ma. Marmarica: Umm Rakum; Matruqa;. Mariut; Montaza; 
Alexandria-West and -Hast. 
Also known from Algeria, Tunisia, Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, Western 
Marmarica, Italy, Sicily, Greece, Syria and Palestine. 
471. (8.) Melissa Linn. 
Calyx tubular-bell-shaped, 13-nerved, 2-lipped; the upper lip 
flattish, 3-toothed, the lower 2-cleft, beardless in the throat. Corolla 
tube recurved-ascending, 2-lipped; upper lip erect, the lower 3-cleft, 
spreading. Stamens 4, curved and connivent under the upper lip: 
anther cells at length diverging. Nutlets smooth. — Herbs, with 
few-flowered 1-sided axillary cymes, and white or yellow flowers. 
A small genus of only a few species in Europe and the Mediterranean 
region. 
1153. Melissa officinalis L. Spec. Plant. I (1753), p. 827. — 
Boiss. Flor. Or. [V, p. 584. — Rehbch. Ic. XVII, tab. 60 fig. I—IU1. 
-— Melissa altissima Libth. and Smith Flor. graec. VI, p.72 tab. 579. 
— Stem erect, branching; leaves ovate, crenate, truncate or cordate 
at the base; cymes 3—6-flowered, with ovate bracts. — Flow. 
January to March. 
M. ma. N.d. Often cultivated in gardens, rarely subspontaneous. 
Also known from Europe and most parts of the Mediterranean region. 
472. (9.) Salvia Linn. 
Herbs, or, in some species, shrubs, with the flowers usually in 
whorls of 6 or more, forming terminal racemes or spikes, the floral 
leaves all or most of them reduced to mere bracts. Calyx 2-lipped, 
the upper lip entire or with 3 small teeth, the lower one 2-cleft. 
Corolla with the upper lip erect, concave, or arched; the lower 
ones spreading, 3-lobed; the middle lobe often notched or divided. 
Stamens really 2, although easily mistaken for 4, for the anthers 
have a long slender connective, having the appearance of a filament, 
fastened by the centre to the very short real filament, and bearing 
at one end a perfect anther-cell under the upper lip of the corolla, 
and at the other end a small cell, almost always empty, and usually 
much deformed. 
A very large genus, widely spread over the temperate and warmer 
regions of.the globe, although within the tropics the majority of species are 
mountain plants. The structure of the stamens readily distinguishes them 
from all other Labiatae. 
