MINT FAMILY wc seein 
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FALSE PENNYROYAL 
Isanthus brachiatus (L.) BSP. 
The False Pennyroyal, only species of this genus in the 
world, is found in dry sandy or rocky soil from Vermont and 
western Quebec to Minnesota, south to Georgia and Texas. 
It occurs throughout Illinois. 
This annual herb has square slender 
stems 6-20 inches high, much branched 
and covered with very short, some- 
what sticky hairs. The oblong or 
elliptic-lanceolate, 3-nerved leaves are 
1-2 inches long, short petioled, and 
may be entire as shown or they may 
have a few sharp teeth. 
The small blue flowers are pro- 
duced from July to September and as 
in most members of the Mint family 
are pollinated largely by bees. The 
slender axillary peduncles are 1-3- 
flowered and are borne on the branches 
as well as on the main stem. The 
calyx is broadly bell shaped and has § 
nearly equal, sharp-pointed lobes. 
Four stamens, 1 pair of which is 
slightly longer than the other, are 
inserted in the throat of the corolla. 
The ovary is deeply 4-lobed but not 
4-parted as in most Mints. The long 
slender style is only slightly 2-lobed 
at the summit. The fruit consists of 
4 somewhat rough, 1-seeded nutlets. 
What small leaf-fingers veined with emerald light 
Lay on my heart that touch of elfin might? 
What spirals of sharp perfume do they fling, 
To blur my page with swift remembering? 
* * * 
Their coolness brings that ecstacy I knew 
Down by the mint-fringed brook that wandered through 
My mellow meadows set with linden trees 
Loud with the summer jargon of the bees. 
A Breath of Mint—Grace Hazard CONKLING 
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