Thymus.] LVII. LABIATE. 349 



1. T. Serpyllum, Linn. (fig. 788). Wild Thyme. Stems procum- 

 bent, slender, very much branched, perennial, and hard but scarcely 

 woody at the base, forming low dense tufts, from a few inches to near 

 a foot in diameter, and often almost covered with the purple flowers. 

 Leaves very small, ovate or oblong, fringed at the base by a very few 

 long hairs on each side ; the floral leaves similar but smaller. Flowers 

 usually 6 in the whorl, without any other bracts than the floral leaves, 

 forming short, terminal, loose, leafy spikes. Calyx usually hairy, and 

 the whole plant sometimes covered with short, rather stiff, hoary hairs. 



On banks, and dry, hilly pastures, throughout Europe and northern 

 and central Asia. Very abundant in Britain. Fl. the whole summer. 

 [There are two very distinct forms of the wild Thyme. 



a. T. Serpyllum proper. Flowering branches ascending from trailing 

 shoots, whorls in one head, upper lip of corolla oblong. 



b. T. Chamcedrys, Fries. Branches all ascending from the rootstock, 

 whorls in axillary heads, upper lip of corolla short broad.] 



V. ORIGANUM. MARJORAM. 



Herbs or undershrubs, with the principal characters of Thymus, but 

 of taller growth, and especially differing in inflorescence. The flowers 

 are in compact heads, with a bract under each flower at least as long 

 as the calyx, the whole forming terminal corymbs or panicles. The 

 calyx is also variable, in our species more regular than in Tkymus, in 

 some exotic ones quite as decidedly 2-lipped as in that genus, and the 

 lips sometimes entire. 



Besides our common species, the greater number of Origanums are 

 east Mediterranean, including the sweet Marjoram of our gardens. 



1. O. vulgare, Linn. (fig. 789). Wild M. Rootstock perennial, 

 shortly creeping ; the annual stems erect, 1 to 2 feet high, more 

 or less hairy. Leaves stalked, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, an inch or 

 more long, and slightly toothed. Flowers purple or rarely white, in 

 globular compact heads, forming a terminal trichotomous panicle. 

 Bracts ovate, about the length of the calyx. Calyx very hairy inside 

 the mouth, with short, nearly equal teeth. Corolla twice as long as 

 the calyx, with 4 broad, nearly equal lobes, of which the upper one is 

 broader and nearly erect. The two longest stamens, and sometimes 

 all four, project beyond the corolla. 



On the edges of woods, roadsides, and hilly pastures, especially in 

 limestone districts, throughout Europe and Russian Asia, except the 

 extreme north. In Britain, spread over England and Ireland, rarer in 

 Scotland. Fl. summer. [0. megastachyum, Link., is a form with larger 

 4-angled spikes.] 



VI. CALAMINTHA. CALAMINT. 



Branching, erect or ascending herbs, with ovate, toothed leaves, and 

 purplish flowers in axillary cymes, sometimes forming dense whorls, 

 sometimes loose and paniculate. Calyx tubular, with 13 longitudinal 

 parallel ribs (2 between the midribs of the lower teeth, and 1 only 

 between the midribs of the upper teeth), and 5 pointed teeth ; the 



