BRTJNELLA. 179 



the Catmint,* and carefully note the resemblances and the 

 differences. The former will make up the generic, the latter 

 the specific characters thus : 



RESEMBLANCES (generic). In both, the stem is square ; 

 leaves opposite ; calyx tubular, 15-veined ; corolla bilabiate ; 

 throat not hairy, upper lip 2-lobed, lower 3-cleft, middle lobe 

 largest ; stamens ascending ; anthers approximating by pairs, 

 their 2 cells separate and diverging ; style bifid, fruit 4 

 achenia. 



DIFFERENCES (specific). The Catmint is clothed with a 

 whitish pubescence ; the stem is erect ; the leaves short-pet- 

 ioled, ovate, cordate, acute, crenate-serrate, the upper reduced 

 to bracts ; the flowers in dense axillary clusters (verticils) ; 

 corolla not twice longer than the calyx, white. 



The Name of the genus thus characterized is Nepeta 

 (Nepet, a town in Tuscany). Ground Ivy is N. Glechoma 

 (ancient Greek for Thyme). Catmint is N. Cataria, a play 

 on Puss's name, whose fondness for the herb is thereby com- 

 memorated. 



XLIX. BLUE CURLS. 



Description. This plant is perhaps better known by 

 the name Self-heal, f It is a native of low grounds both in 

 fields and forests, flowering from May to August according 

 to climate. Its squarish, blue-flowered cluster is a familiar 

 object in the rural scenes of our boyhood. In New England 

 its growth is stinted to a few inches in stature, but in the 

 rich bottoms of the West it attains to several feet, its flowers 

 being proportionately larger. 



* Dried specimens of Catmint may be used for comparison, when fresh ones in 

 flower cannot be found. 



t The popular name, Self-heal, intimates that with it one may cure himself, or as 

 expressed in the French proverb quoted by Ruellius (D Natura Stirpium), "No one 

 needs a surgeon who has Prunelle." 



