LABIATAE MINT FAMILY 
COMMON MOTHERWORT 
Leonurus Cardiaca L. 
This tall perennial herb is an immigrant from Europe which 
seems to prefer to grow near the habitations of man. Roadsides, 
spots near buildings and waste places are favorite haunts, from 
Nova Scotia to North 
Carolina, west to 
Montana and Utah. 
The stout, com- 
monly branched stem 
grows 2-5 feet high. 
Leaves are thin and 
membranous, the 
lower nearly round, 
2-4 inches broad and 
3-5 cleft, whereas the 
upper are as shown. 
The flowers, too 
small to be conspicu- | 
ous but really very : 
pretty, are produced 
in numerous axillary 
clusters from June to September. The calyx is 5-nerved and nearly 
equally 5-toothed. The teeth are stiff and sharp like prickles. The 
decidedly 2-lipped corolla varies from pink to pale purple and 
has a ring of white woolly hairs on the inside of the tube. The 
upper lip is slightly concave and densely bearded outside, and 
the lower is 3-lobed and mottled with dark purple spots. There 
are 4 stamens in pairs of unequal length. The ovary is deeply 
4-parted and the style is 2-cleft at the top. The 3-sided nutlets 
are smooth and within the calyx. 
The Horehound Motherwort or Lion’s Tail, Leonurus Marrubias- 
trum L.., is a tall biennial from Europe which has stout stems, leaves 
much like those of Catnip, page 278, and white, very markedly 
2-lipped flowers in dense axillary whorls. The calyx is equally 
s-toothed and hairy, its bristle-shaped, somewhat spreading teeth 
mostly shorter than the tube. The style is 2-cleft at the summit, 
the ovary 4-parted and the fruit 4 smooth 3-sided nutlets. This plant 
is an inhabitant of waste places and flowers from June to September. 
283 
