30 LABIATE 



t t t t t i?ps of the corolla unequal; calyx 5 — 10 toothed ; stamens shorter than 



the tube of the cmvlhi. 



16. White Horehound (Marrubium). — Calyx with 10 ribs and 5 or 10 

 spreading teeth, the throat hairy ; tube of the corolla longer than the calyx, 

 upper lip straight, very narrow, deeply 2-cleft, lower 3-lobed. Name of 

 doubtful origin. 



t t t t t t Lips of the corolla unequal ; calyx 2-Upped. 



17. Calamint (Calamintha). — Calyx 13-nerved, tubular, upper lip 3-cleft, 

 lower 2-cleft, throat hairy. Name from kalos, good, and mentha, mint. 



18. Wild Bastard Balm (Mellitis). — Calyx bell-shaped, much wider 

 than the tube of the corolla, variously lobed ; upper lip of the corolla nearly 

 flat, entire, lower with three rounded, nearly equal lobes ; anthers approach- 

 ing in pairs, and forming a cross. Name from the Greek melitta, a bee, on 

 account of the honey yielded by the flower. 



19. Self-heal (PrunMla). — Calyx flattened, and closed when in fruit; 

 corolla with the upper lip nearly entire, arched, lower one 3-lobed ; filaments 

 2-forked. Name from the German braiine, quinsy, which complaint it was 

 supposed to cure. 



20. Skull-cap (Scufelkiria). — Upper lip of the calyx bulged outward 

 about the middle, and finally closing down like a lid over the fruit ; tube of 

 the corolla much larger than the calyx. Name from the Latin scutella, a 

 little cup, from the form of the calyx. 



1. Gipsy-wort (Lycopus). 



Common Gipsy-wort (L. europmis). — Leaves deeply and irregularly 

 cut, almost pinnatifid, and serrated, wrinkled and opposite ; flowers small, in 

 dense sessile whorls in the axils of the upper leaves ; perennial. This is not 

 a frequent plant in all parts of this kingdom, though in many counties it is 

 found very commonly on the margins of rivers and stagnant waters. To 

 the owner of the moist pasture land it often proves a very troublesome 

 weed, for it has a creeping root-stock not easily removed, and ready to pro- 

 duce a new plant if but a small portion be left in the soil. No cattle will 

 touch it, nor is it very ornamental to the meado^v. Its flowers are crowded 

 among the upper leaves, and Pollieh says that he has sometimes counted 

 eighty-two blossoms in a whorl. They are small, hairy within, white dotted 

 with purple, which gives them a pale rosy appearance, and expand in July 

 and August. It is said that the wandering people who wish to pass for 

 gipsies use this plant to give a brown tint to their complexions, and the juice 

 of the walnut-leaf has been aflfirmed to be used for the same purpose. The 

 dye of the Gipsy-wort would probably prove the more permanent hue, for it 

 will impart a black stain to almost anything which its juice touches. In 

 France it has been used in giving a good deep brown hue to silk, wool, and 

 linen. The cut leaves, which suggested the botanic name, which is taken 

 from the Greek, are also alluded to in several of the familiar names by which 

 the plant is called in other countries. The Germans term it JFolfsfuss ; the 

 Dutch, JFolfspoot : the Italians, Lirojjo. Our country people know it as the 

 Water Horehound, and it is the Marrube aquatique of the French, It was 



