38 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Common Balm. 

 French, Melisse Officinale. German, GehrducMiche Melisse. 

 This plant is known as balm or bawm, which words are contractions from balsam ; 

 by some said to be derived from the Hebrew, hoi smin, chief of oils. In old times it 

 was much liked in gardens, especially where bees were kei3t. Gerarde tells us " they 

 are delighted with this herbs above others ; whereupon it has been called apiastrwm, 

 for when they are straied away, they doe find their way home againe by it, as Virgil 

 writeth in his Georgicks : — 



' Here liquors cast in fitting sort, 

 Of bruised bawme and more base honey wort.' " 

 He says that Dioscorides wi'ites, " that the leaves drunke with wine or applied out- 

 wardly are good against the stingings of venomous beasts and the biting of mad dogs ; 

 also it helpeth the toothache, the mouth being washed with a decoction ; and is like- 

 wise good for those that cannot take breath unless they hold their neckes upright." 



Tribe TIL— NEPETEiE. 



Corolla bilabiate, upper lip usually vaulted. Stamens 4, parallel, 

 the inner or upper pair the longest ; anthers 2-cellecl, cells contiguous. 



GENUS 177.— NEPETA. Lhm. 



Calyx 15-ribbecl, not bilabiate, 5-toothecl, with the teeth unequal, the 

 3 upper generally longer than the other 2. Corolla bilabiate, tube 

 rather long ; upper lip erect, slightly concave, notched or 2-lobed, the 

 lower one spreading, 3-lobed. Stamens 4 ; anther-cells at length divari- 

 cate at the base, contiguous and united at the apex, usually opening 

 by a longitudinal slit common to the two lobes. 



Plerbs of various habit. 



The origin of the name of this genus of plants is from nejia, a scorpion, it being 

 reputed efiicacious against the bite of that reptile. 



Sub-Genus L- CATARIA. Moiich. 



Calyx tabular, slightly curved, generally oblique at the mouth; 

 teeth unequal. Corolla tube sub-exserted; middle lobe of the lower 

 lip suborbicular, concave. Anthers not forming a cross ; cells opening 

 by a common longitudinal cleft. Verticillasters aggregated at the 

 extremity of the stem and branches. Bracts of the uppermost verticil- 

 lasters minute. 



SPECIES I.— N EPETA CATARIA. Linn. 

 Plate MLIV. 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ. et. Helv. Vol. XVIII. Tab. MCCXLII. 

 Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1046. 

 Cataria vulgaris, Monch, Meth. p. 387. 



Stem erect. Leaves stalked, ovnte-triangular, cordate or subcoi'date, 



