260 IABIATM [ A JUG A, 



in the hilly parts of the W.'Peninsula. to Ceylon, extending to Trop. 

 E. Africa. It may possibly occur wild within the northern boundary 

 of the area of this flora. 



ERILLA OCYMOIDES, Linn. ; F. B. I iv t 646; Watt E. D ; DutUe Field 

 and Oard. Crops N. W.Prov. and Oudh, part Hi, 45 ; Collett Fl. Siml. 

 890 ; Prain Beng. PI, 851. Mentha perilloides, Willd. ; Eoxb Fl. Ind. 

 Hit 7. Vern. Bhanjira. An erect aromatic herb, 2-4 ft. high, with 

 ovate or rounded crenate or coarsely serrate leaves. WTiorls 2-fld. form- 

 ing long axillary and terminal secund racemes," Cafyx 2-lipped, 5. 

 toothed, gibbous at the base, enlarging in fruit. Corolla white, limb 

 5-fid. Nutlets globose, reticulate. The plant is wild and cultivated 

 on the outer ranges of the Himalaya from Kashmir to Bhutan up to 

 10,000 ft. and extends to Burma, China and Japan. It is grown near 

 villages in Dehra Dun and eastwards along the Sub-Himalayan tracts 

 and in Chittagong. The oil yielded by the seeds is much valued for 

 culinary purposes, as well as for burning. 



MENTHA. A large genus of aromatic plants found chiefly in northern 

 temperate regions. They include several kinds of mint, which are 

 known to the natives of India by the general name of podina, and are 

 largely grown in their gardens as pot-herbs. M. sylvestris, L. is the 

 horse-mint. It is common on the Western Himalaya up to 12,000 ft. 

 The variety it cana with more slender and much interrupted spikes, 

 and with a 5 mailer calyx and white corolla, occurs in Dehra Dun in 

 a semi-wild state and is probably an escape from cultivation. Other 

 species occasionally met with in native gardens within the area are 

 spear-mint (M. viridis'), marsh-mint (M. arvensis), and pepper-mint 

 (M. piperita). They are all more or less in use for culinary or medici- 

 nal purposes. 



MERIANDRA BENGALENSIS, Benth; F.B.I, iv, 652; WattE.D.; Prain 

 Beng. PI. 858; CooTce Fl. Bomb, ii, 475, Salvia bengalensis, Roxb. Fl. 

 Ind. i, 145. A large straggling shrub with white flowers. It is culti- 

 vated in native gardens within the area of this flora and throughout the 

 freater part of India, and is often known under the name of " Bengal 

 age." The leaves have a strong camphor-like scent and are used 

 medicinally and also for preserving cloth from the attacks of insects. 



LXXXVIII.-PLANTAGINACE-ZE. 



Scapigerous annual or perennial herbs. Leaves usually radical 

 Scapes axillary. Flowers small, spicate, often dimorphic. Sepals 4, 

 imbricate in bud, persistent. Corolla hypogynous, salver- shaped, 

 scarious ; lobes 4, short, imbricate in bud. Stamens 4, inserted on the 

 corolla-tube ; filaments capillary, inflexed in bud, persistent ; anthers 

 large, pendulous, versatile. Ovary superior, 1-4-celled ; style filiform, 

 with 2 lines of stigmatic hairs, ovules 1-8 in. each cell, Fruit a 



