50 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Rootstock somewhat woody, shortly creeping, with numerous wiry 

 fibres. Stem erect, 8 inches to 2 feet high. Leaves rather shortly 

 stalked, ovate or oval-ovate or elliptical-ovate, rounded at tlie base, taper- 

 ing towards the apex, coarsely crenate-serrate. Bracts undistinguisli- 

 able from the leaves. Flowers solitary or in pairs or threes in the axils 

 of the bracts, shortly stnlked, secund. Pedicels shorter than the calyx. 

 Calyx pale green, |- inch long, campanulate, 2-lipped ; the upper lip entire 

 or with 2 or 3 teeth, the lower lip with 2 teeth. Corolla 1^ to 1^ inches 

 long, the tube scarcely dilated upwards ; limb spreading, the lower lip 

 longer than the upper, but shorter than the tube ; the upjier lip slightly 

 concave ; the colour pink or cream colour externally, the inside white or 

 cream colour, the lower lip blotched with purplish red. Plant deep 

 green, the steni pubescent with long spreading hairs, the leaves very 

 thinly hairy above, glabrous beneath, except on the veins. Leaves 

 somewhat like those of Mercurialis perennis. 



M. grandiflora of Smith is only a slight variation with differently 

 coloured flowers. The number of lobes in the calyx is liable to vary 

 even on the same individual. 



Bastard Balm. 



Frencli, Melisse des hois. German, melissenhldttrige Biensauge. 

 This plant is elegant, and is occasionally admitted into gardens, though of an 

 unpleasant smell when fresh. When di'ied it becomes very fragrant. 



GENUS X//.— MARRUBIUM. Linii. 



Calyx tubular, scarcely enlarging in fruit, nearly regulai', not bila- 

 biate ; limb ascending or at length spreading, of 5 teeth, spinous- 

 pointed, often with 5 smaller intermediate ones. Corolla bilabiate ; 

 tube short ; upper lip erect, nearly flat, entire or shortly bitid, usually 

 longer than the lower; lower lijj spreading, 3-cleft, middle lobe 

 broader, notched. Stamens 4; filaments subparallel under the upper 

 side of the corolla-tube, but not reaching to the upper lip ; anther-cells 

 joined at the apex and divergent in a straight line, opening by a 

 common longitudinal slit. Nucules abruptly truncate at the apex. 



Herbs often woolly, with rugose leaves, which are usually rounded 

 or wedgeshaped at the base, mostly serrate. Bracts similar to the 

 leaves, Verticillasters many- flowered, often spherical, with subulate 

 herbaceous bracts. 



This genus of plants, according to one author, is named from a town in Italy where 

 it abounds. Another gives us the words mam, bitter, and ruhe, a Celtic name for a 

 root, as the origin. 



