28 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



that it has not come under their notice, but it is given by Professor 

 Babington as an Irish plant. 



England, Scotland, Ireland ? Perennial. Summer, Autumn. 



This plant is so extremely like T. eu-Serp5dlura, that it is often diffi- 

 cultto distinguish the two from herbarium specimens, although the living 

 plants can be identified readily enough. T. eu-Serpyllum grows in flakes, 

 with the barren shoots at lengtli forming a fringe on the outside. T. 

 Chama3drys grows in a tuft, with the flowering shoots far exceeding 

 the barren ones, as the stem of the preceding year terminates in a 

 flowering and not in a barren shoot. The flowering shoots of T. 

 Chamasdrys are generally much longer, Avith the pubescence confined to 

 2 or 4 strips; the leaves are generally largei', broader in proportion, 

 and less narrowed at the base ; the inflorescence is less capitate, from the 

 whorls being more numerous and continued further down the stem ; the 

 floAvers are generally larger than T. eu-Serpyllum, and have the upper 

 lip of the corolla shorter and more rounded. The plant varies from 

 subglabrous to densely hairy. 



1 have seen specimens of T. eu-Serpyllum in which the stem of last 

 year appears to produce a flowering shoot at the apex, but it is certainly 

 very rarely the case, and possibly only apparent, i. e. that the bud 

 which ought to have produced a barren shoot has died, and the flower- 

 ing stem may have come from a lateral bud at the very end of the 

 living portion of the stem of the previous year. If this supposition be 

 correct, the two British forms of thyme should be considered as ver- 

 species, on account of a constant physiological difference, between them. 



Larger Wild Tliyme. 



GENUS IV.— O R I G A N U M. Linn. 



Calyx with 10 to 13 striai, regular, or more or less bilabiate, 5- 

 toothed ; teeth nearly equal. Corolla sub-bilabiate; the upper lip 

 notched ; lower one 3-lobed, with the lobes nearly equal. Stamens 4 ; 

 filaments straight, divergent ; anther-cells at length diverging at the 

 base, not contiguous at the apex. 



Herbs or under-shrubs with entire or toothed leaves. FloAvers pale 

 purple, lilac, or white, in short sub-cylindrical or 4-sided dense spikes, 

 with the bracts usually coloured. Verticillasters reduced to pairs of 

 flowers. 



Tho name of this gentis is said to be derived from clpoc (ocos), a mountain, and 

 yavoQ (fjanos), joy, tlie deliglit of the mountaui. It is tlie Origanum of Pliuy, and 

 opiyavov of Tlieoplirastus and Dioscorides. 



