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BY THE HEDGKEKOWS AND WAYSIDE. 



fTJHE tender green leaves and bright flowers of the 

 spring and summer have given place to the dull 

 and dusty-looking labiate tribe of Mints, Calamints, 

 and Dead Nettles. We all know the White Dead 

 Nettle (Lamium albitm), with its square stein, of 

 which schoolboys make squeaking pipes : it blossoms 

 in the early summer, but still continues in bloom. A 

 very common plant is the Hedge Woundwort (Sta- 

 cTiys sylvatica) : it has whorls of six purple flowers 

 round its stem, and its leaves are like the common 

 stinging-nettle in shape, but downy. It was, and 

 sometimes is even now, used as a styptic. Near 

 towns the common Black Horehound (Ballota nigra), 

 with its dusty foliage and thick stem, is common 

 enough, with its reddish flowers of a foetid odour. 

 The White or Medicinal Horehound (Marrubium 

 vulgare) has, on the contrary, an aromatic sinell and 

 a bitter flavour : its flowers are small and white, and 

 are set in crowded whorls. It is much used when 

 candied for coughs and asthma. The Catmint (Nepeta 



