DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 139 



LABIA'T^E, MINT FAMILY 



Herbs or shrubs with 4-angled stems and opposite leaves. 

 Flowers generally in whorls, or solitary in the axils of the 

 leaves. Calyx ribbed, with many nerves. Corolla 2-lipped. 

 Stamens 4 in two sets, 2 often sterile. Fruit of 4 nutlets 

 around a simple style. These plants are generally aromatic. 



I. MEN'THA, Mint 



Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla with short tube, naked within, 

 and 4-cleft border, scarcely 2-lipped, but with the upper lobe 

 broadest. Stamens If., nearly equal, erect, distant. Flowers 

 small, white or purplish, in whorls. Aromatic and sweet- 

 scented herbs. (There are several cultivated species.) 



a. M. Canaden'sis L. Flowers all in axillary whorls, the summit 

 of the stem being flowerless. Calyx hairy. Common in damp places. 



b. M. Pule'gium L. Covered with a white-woolly pubescence. 

 Calyx slightly 2-lipped, 10-ribbed, the throat closed with hairs. 

 Recently introduced, but spreading rapidly. 



II. MONARDEL'LA 



Calyx tubular, with 5 short, nearly equal teeth, and the 

 throat naked within. Corolla with the tube longer than the 

 calyx, smooth within ; upper lip 2-cleft, lower one 3-parted, 

 with flat, oblong-linear lobes. Stamens 4, projecting beyond 

 the corolla. Flowers in terminal heads having conspicuous 

 involucres. 



a. M. villo'sa Benth. Perennial herbs with many stems from a 

 woody base, soft-hairy. Leaves ovate, strongly veined. Bracts of the 

 involucre similar to the leaves. Flowers flesh-color, white, or most 

 frequently purple. Widely distributed, and blooming at all seasons. 



b. M. odoratis'sima Benth. Perennial with several stems from 

 a woody root, G-12 in. high, pale green or gray with a minute 

 pubescence. Leaves oblong to lanceolate, entire, on short petioles, with 

 veins inconspicuous. Bracts thin and membranous, veiny, white or 

 purple. Calyx teeth hairy. Common in the mountains of Cali- 

 fornia and extending to Washington. 



