194 



LABIATE. 



[CLASS 



obtained from common Toadflax, and from some 

 Calceolarias. 



48. Natural Order Labiatse. The Labiate Family. 



DISTRIBUTION. Numerous in every quarter of the 

 globe ; especially so in proportion to other Natural 

 Orders in the Mediterranean region. British genera 18, 

 species 44. 



Herbs. Corolla irregular. Stamens fewer than corolla-lobes. 

 Ovary 4-lobed, style from between the lobes. 



Type White Deadnettle (Lamium album). 



A coarse perennial herb, with square stem, opposite 

 exstipulate leaves, and axillary cymes (forming verti- 

 cillasters) of bilabiate white flowers. 



OBSERVE the square stem and invariably opposite 

 leaves of the Order, which derives its name from the 

 characteristic form of the corolla of its members. It is 

 irregular and usually two-lipped ; hence called labiate or 

 bilabiate. 



From those Scrophulariaceae which have a similar 

 corolla, Labiates may be distinguished by the ovary, 

 which is 4-lobed as in Boragineae, each lobe with i ovule, 

 and by the gynobasic style. Labiates differ from Borages 

 in the stamens being fewer than the lobes of the corolla, 

 and in the characters of the stem and leaf referred to 

 above. 



