350 MINT FAMILY. 



ners, oblong or almost linear leaves, or ovate on the runners, the loose 

 purplish flowers about ' long. 



C. Nepeta, Link. BASIL THYME. Nat. from Eu. from Md., W. and 

 S.; soi't-downy, branching, l-2 high, with round-ovate crenate leaves, 

 small and loose purple flowers, and calyx hairy in the throat. 



* * Fluwers in terminal heads or head-like whorls, crowded with awl- 

 shaped bracts. 



C. Clinop6dium, Benth. BASIL. Waste grounds and along thickets ; 

 hairy, with rather simple stems l-2 long, ovate, and nearly entire 

 petioled leaves, and pale purple small corollas. 



20. MELISSA, BALM, BEE BALM. (Old name from Greek for 

 bee.) Old World sweet herbs. Flowers summer. H 



M. officinalis, Linn. COMMON B. Gardens, sparingly running wild ; 

 rather hairy, loosely-branched, lemon-scented, with ovate or scarcely 

 heart-shaped crenate-toothed leaves, and yellowish or soon white flowers 

 in small loose axillary clusters. 



21. SAL VIA, SAGE. (Latin salvo, save, from its reputed healing 

 qualities.) (Lessons, Figs. 302, 303.) 



* Blue-flowered species (corolla sometimes partly white'). % 

 t- Leaves halberd- shaped or triangular-ovate. 



S. patens, Cav. Mexico ; 2-3 high, rather hairy, with crenate-serrate 

 pubescent leaves, the uppermost sessile ones sometimes oval, loose-pedi- 

 celed flowers, showy deep blue corolla over 2' long, the lips widely gaping. 

 Cult, in borders. 



- -- Leaves narrower, not halberd-like at base. 

 M- Flowers in distinct whorls near the top of the stem. 



B. lyr^ta, Linn. Sandy soil from N. J. to 111. and S.; l-2 high, 

 rather hairy, with leaves mostly at the root, and obovate or lyre-shaped, 

 and a smaller pair on the stem ; whorls of flowers forming an interrupted 

 raceme; corolla hardly 1' long; upper lip of calyx 3-toothed ; lower cell 

 of the anther present but deformed. 



S. officinalis, Linn. COMMON SAGE. From S. Eu.; low but erect, 

 minutely hoary-pubescent, with oblong-lanceolate leaves finely reticu- 

 lated-rugose and the margins crenulate, spiked flower-whorls, and short 

 corolla. 



- -w Flowers in racemose or spiciform inflorescence, the whorls, if any, 

 small and loose. 



Corolla tube scarcely exserted beyond the calyx. Flowers small. 



B. urticif6lia, Linn. Woodlands from Md., W. and S. ; l-2 high, 

 leafy, somewhat clammy-downy ; leaves rhombic-ovate ; racemes slender, 

 the blue and white corolla only ^ long ; lower cell of the anther wanting. 



= = Corolla tube conspicuously exserted. 



B. azfcrea, Lam. Sandy soil S. Car., S. and W.; nearly smooth and 

 green, with rather simple stems, 2-4 high; leaves lance-linear, with 

 tapering base, obtuse, entire, or the lower serrate ; the showy azure-blue 

 flowers (less than 1' long) numerous in a spike-like raceme. 



Var. grandif!6ra, Benth. (S. PfxcHERi). Kansas to Texas; inflores- 

 cence denser ; minutely soft-downy ; occasionally cultivated. 



