46 LABIAT.^ 



very rare. It has been reported from Castleton in Derbyshire, and some 

 other spots in England. Some botanists describe this as the Alpine Bugle 

 (A. aljjinu) ; but it appears probable that a variety of A. reptans without 

 stolons has been mistaken for the A. aJpina of Linmeus, and there is no 

 reason for believing that the latter has occurred here. 



3. Pyramidal Bugle (A. pyramiddlis). —iitem solitary, without scions; 

 leaves oblong, entire, or crenate, root-leaves tapering at the base, stem-leaves 

 sessile, upper ones longer than the flowers ; flowers whorled, forming a four- 

 sided pyramidal spike ; perennial. This is a very rare Highland plant, but 

 is plentiful at the Burn of Killigower, and on the Ord of Caithness ; it also 

 occurs in Westmoreland. Its stem is from four to six inches high, and its 

 flowers, which expand in May and June, are bluish-purple. The whole plant 

 is sometimes hairy. 



3. Ground Pine or Yellow Bugle (A. tJniiinepifi/^). — Stem much 

 branched, spreading ; leaves deeply 3-cleft, segments linear and entire ; 

 floral leaves similar, longer than the flowers ; flowers solitary and axillary ; 

 annual. This plant is well called Ground Pine, as its narrow leaves look 

 like a tuft of foliage taken from the pine-tree, only that their colour, instead 

 of being dark, is of sea-green hue, and the yellow floAvers, spotted with red, 

 are almost hidden among them. This species differs altogether in its general 

 appearance from the others of the genus. Its stem is about three or four 

 inches high, reddish-purple, and glutinous ; and the whole plant is somewhat 

 hairy. It is in flower from May to Septemlicr. It is by no means a common 

 plant, but it is plentiful on sandy and chalky fields in some counties, as Bed- 

 ford, Cambridge, Essex, Hants, Herts, Kent, and Surrey. Our fathers called 

 it by the name of Herb Ivy, though for what reason is not apparent. It was 

 also called Field Cypresse, and both English and German writers of Queen 

 Elizabeth's time called it Forget-me-not. The plant contains a slight amount 

 of tannin, and was believed formerly to aftord a very useful medicine for 

 gout. Charles V. is said to have been cured of that malady by drinking a 

 vinous infusion made of the herb; "at least," observes Professor Burnett, 

 " he got better after he had taken the medicine for sixty successive days ; 

 which, as a rare example of patience and explicit obedience to medical 

 authority, deserves to be recorded." 



8. HoREHOUND (BaUofa). 



Black Horehound {B. nigra). — Leaves egg-shaped, serrated ; bracts 

 linear, awl-shaped ; teeth of the calyx pointed, spreading, longer than the 

 tube of the corolla ; perennial. A variety of this plant, in which the calyx- 

 tube is shorter and stouter, the teeth short, suddenly pointed, tipped with a 

 spine, keeled and turning downward, is, by some writers, described as 

 B. fcetida ; while another, having the calyx-tube narrow, elongated, and 

 widely spreading upwards, Avith awned, egg-shaped, erect and spreading 

 teeth, is described as B. nidcralis. Large quantities of the Black Horehound 

 might be gathered from almost any hedge or road-side, often covered with 

 the dust of the road, and never having any brightness, eithei- of leaf or 

 blossom. Tht^ foliage is wrinkled, of a grey green, and the numerous whorls 

 of flowers, which from June to Octoljer invest the upper portion of the stem, 



