218 CHAPTER XXIX. 



but it is probable that many British botanists have 

 never seen the plant. Do not confound it with the 

 perfumed Melissa, which it resembles only in name. 



One admires the shrubby Teucrium which we 

 have in almost all the gardens here. But its beauty 

 lies rather in the silver-grey lining of its matted foliage 

 than in its roofless bluish flowers. For these are 

 somewhat too utilitarian, the lower lip, being found 

 useful as a perching place for bees, is abnormally 

 developed, while the upper lip is altogether suppressed. 



The Wall Germander (Teucrium Chamcedrys) is 

 so common that one almost forgets how pretty it is. 

 Here we have one of those sensible little herbs that face 

 all their flowers one way, so that you may have a better 

 view of them. I suppose the Wall Germander thinks 

 that there is no harm in making the best of himself, 

 so long as he does not become too obtrusive. This 

 again is boldly claimed by Bentham as a British 

 plant. Other authorities admit that it is a garden 

 escape. But it is certain that this Teucrium can live in 

 England, and for this reason it should be commoner 

 in our gardens. Hooker calls T. Chamcedrys " a 

 famous old gout medicine." M. John Briquet has 

 published in Geneva a work on the Labiates of the 

 Maritime Alps. 



The cultivated Sahias are of every shade : white, 

 purple, blue, rose pink, and fiery red.* S. gluiinosa of 

 the mountain region is an exception to Grant Allen's 



* The flowers of S. albo-coerulea Lave a marked scent of pineapple. 

 S. gesnercejtora is very striking : flowers scarlet. S. Sessei, the tallest of 

 the genus, has involucrate flowers of a splendid red. The beautiful blue 

 S. patens, common in English gardens, does not thrive on the Eiviera. 

 T. H. 



