Labiate tribe 41) 



diiferent when seen growing in the corn-field. It is a common plant in the 

 Scottish corn-lands, but very local in England. It is a larger, coarser-looking 

 herb than the common Hemp-nettle, often two or three feet in height. The 

 flowers expand in July and August, and are large and conspicuous, the 

 yellow corolla having a broad purple spot on the lower lip. It is in Scotland 

 called Bee-nettle. Sir Joseph Hooker regards it as a sub-species of the last, 

 and calls it G. speciom. 



11. Weasel-snout {GaJeohdohn). 



Yellow Weasel-snout, or Archangel {G. U'lteum). — Leaves egg- 

 shaped, pointed, stalked, and deeply serrated ; flowers in whorls ; perennial. 

 We do not wonder that Gerarde disputed much whether this plant should 

 not be included in the genus Lamiinn, where, indeed, Sir J. D. Hooker places 

 it. It very much resembles the white Dead-nettle in form, and its blossoms 

 are about the same size, and except in colour, very similar. It is usually, 

 however, rather a taller and less erect plant, with narrower and more pointed 

 leaves. The flowers, which in May and June grow in numerous whorls 

 around the upper part of the stem, are bright yellow, more or less marked 

 with patches of orange-red. The stem is about two feet high, and its leaves 

 are often variegated with dashes of pale yellow. It is a local plant, but is 

 very common in many shady woods in England, and may sometimes be seen in 

 woodlands, where the trees have been cut down, growing in such abundance 

 as to render some spots of a yellow hue. It is commonly called Yellow 

 Archangel, and is L'ortie morfe des hois of the French. The Germans call it 

 Gelbehanfnessel, and the Dutch, Geelbloemir/e Jwndsndel. It grows in many 

 European countries, and is knoAvn in Norway, Sweden, Lapland, Germany, 

 Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Its properties are slightly astringent. 



12. Dead-nettle {Luiiiium). 



1. White Dead-nettle (L. album). — Leaves heart-shaped, pointed, 

 deeply serrated and stalked ; calyx-teeth long, awl-shaped, spreading ; tube 

 of the corolla curved upwards, the throat dilated, upper lip oblong, the side 

 lobes of the lower one with 1 — 3 awl-shaped teeth; perennial. Everybody 

 knows the White Dead-nettle, for it springs up bj^ our pathway on sunny or 

 shady bank or field-border in abundance, in May, and when the cold blasts of 

 December are nipping most plants we find it still lingering beneath some 

 hedge, its white blooms soiled and stained, and rent by wind and weather. 

 Country boys make whistles of its square stalks, and bees gather honey from 

 its flowers, but its odour is very disagreeable, and cattle will not eat it while 

 any other herbage is within their reach. The flower is, in its common form 

 pure white, with black anthers ; but we know a bank in Kent on which 

 masses of the plant have grown, summer after summer, with very pretty 

 rose-coloured blossoms, though not clifFei-ing in any other respect from the 

 common condition of the White jSTettle. The stem is usually about a foot 

 high, and the leaf sufficiently like that of the stinging-nettle to render many 

 persons afraid to touch it. The stingless nature of the leaves, however, 

 induced our fathers to call the plants of this genus not only Dead-nettles, 

 but also Blind- or Dumb-nettles. In that old work, the " Promptorium par- 



IIL— 7 



