OR I 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



ORllI 



209 



of a purplish colour, terminated by slender oblong spikes of 

 small purplish flowers, peeping out of their scaly covers. 

 Native of the Levant ; and increased in the same way as the 

 first and second species. 



4. Origanum Tournetbrtii ; Dittany of Amorgos. Spikes 

 four-cornefed ; bractes roundish, very large ; stems eight or 

 nine inches high, glaucous, simple, or branched, commonly 

 dividing into two spikes, or terminating in one only ; each 

 spike is fifteen or twenty lines long, and five or six wide, 

 formed by four rows of scales, of a pale purple colour, oval, 

 pointed, four or five Hues long ; sometimes they are pale 

 green with purple borders ; the flowers expand successively 

 from the axils of these, nine or ten inches in length. It 

 flowers in August ; and is a native of the island of Amorgos. 

 Increased in the same way as the preceding species. 



5. Origanum Creticum; Cretan Marjoram. Spikes aggre- 

 gate, long, prismatic, straight; bractes me"nbranaceous, twice 

 as long as the calix ; leaves ovate and hoary, with a strong 

 aromatic scent. The flowers grow on long erect bunched 

 spikes at the top of the stalks, having membranaceous bractes 

 between, twice the length of the calix. The flowers are 

 small and white, but, like those of Common Marjoram, they 

 appear in July, but seldom perfect seed in England. This 

 is said to be the true Dittany of Crete; but there has been 

 so much confusion among different authors in distinguishing 

 the species, that it is very difficult to determine. This and 

 the next species are increased by parting the roots in autumn, 

 but must have a dry soil and a warm situation. 



6. Origanum Smyrnseum ; Smyrna Marjoram- Leaves 

 ovate,' acute, serrate; spikes heaped, umbellately fastigiate. 

 This is a perennial plant, with several rod-like, woody, long 

 stems, putting forth branchlets at intervals. The round 

 airy spikes, collected into a broad-topped corymbose tuft, 

 distinguish this plant. It exhales a very fragrant smell. 

 Propagated in the same way as the preceding species. 



7. Origanum Heracleoticum ; Winter Sweet Marjoram. 

 Spikes long, peduncled, aggregate; bractes the length of the 

 calices. Root perennial, from which arise many branching 

 stalks afoot and half high, hairy, and inclining to a purplish 

 colour ; flowers in spikes, about two inches long, several 

 arising together from the divisions of the stalks. It is chiefly 

 cultivated for nosegays, because it comes sooner to flower 

 than Sweet Marjoram. There is a variety with variegated 

 leaves. It grows naturally in Greece, and the warm parts 

 of Europe. It is now commonly known by the name of 

 Winter Sweet Marjoram, but was formerly called Pot Mar- 

 joram. It is hardy enough to thrive in the open air in Eng- 

 land, in a dry soil, and is generally propagated by parting 

 the roots in uiitumn. 



- 8. Origanum Vulgar; Common Marjoram. Spikes round- 

 ish, panicled, conglomerate ; bractes longer that the calix, 

 ovate. Root perennial, creeping, horizontal, brown, tufted 

 with numerous fibres : stem a foot high, sometimes nearly 



.eighteen inches or two feet, upright, somewhat woody, a 

 little downy, and often tinned with purple ; branches oppo- 

 site, upright, more tender than the stalk, in other respects 

 similar ; corolla pale red, hniry, the middle segment rather 

 longer than the rest. The leaves vary in shape from ovate 

 to ovate-lanceolate and ovate-cordate. There is a variety 

 with white flowers, and light green stalks; and another with 



.variegated leaves. It is an aromatic and ornamental plant, 

 growing wild in thickets and hedges, chiefly in a calcareous 

 soil, and flowering from the end of June through August. 

 The dried leaves, used instead often, are exceedingly grate- 

 ful ; they are also used in fomentations. The essential oil 

 is so acrid that it may be considered as a caustic, and is used 



for the same purposes by farriers ; a little cotton moistened 

 with it, and put into the hollow of an aching tooth, fre- 

 quently relieves the pain. The country people use the tops 

 to dye woollen cloth purple ; and it also dyes linen of a 

 reddish brown colour : for this p irpose the linen is first 

 macerated in alum-water, and dried; it is them soaked for 

 two. days in a decoction of the bark of the crab-tree; it is 

 wrung out of this, boiled in a ley of ashes, and then suffered 

 to boil in the decoction. According to the Swedish experi- 

 ments, goats and sheep eat it; horses are not fond of it ; and 

 cattle reject it. It is an excellent medicine in nervous cases. 

 The leaves and tops dried, and given in powder, are good 

 in head-aches of that kind. The tops made into a conserve, 

 are good for disorders of the stomach and bowels, such as 

 flatulencies, and indigestion ; and an infusion of the whole 

 plant is serviceable in obstructions of the viscera, and against 

 the jaundice. Propagated by parting the roots. 



9. Origanum Onites ; Pot Marjoram. Spikes oblong, 

 aggregate, hirsute ; leaves cordate, tomentose. Stems per- 

 ennial, woody, a foot and half high, dividing into many 

 small branches : flowers small, white, just emerging out of 

 their scaly covers. -Native of Sicily, about Syracuse. It may 

 be increased by cuttings. 



10. Origanum Syriacum ; Syrian Marjoram. Spikes long, 

 ternate, peduncled, villose ; leaves ovate, villose ; racemes 

 from the axils ; corymb terminating, brachiate, with longer 

 branches. Place of growth uncertain ; Loureiro says it grows 

 wild in Cochin-china. Increased by cuttings. 



11. Origanum Mara. Spikes hirsute; leaves ovate, tomen- 

 tose, sessile ; stem purple, with a few villose hairs scattered 

 over it ; corolla purplish-red. Native of Crete. 



12. Origanum Marjorana ; Sweet or Knotted Marjoram. 

 Leaves oval, blunt; spikes roundish, compact, pubescent. 

 Root biennial, brown, with many long tough fibres ; stems 

 numerous, woody, branched, a foot and half high ; flowers 

 small, white, appearing successively between the bracteal 

 leaves, which are numerous. It begins to flower in July, at 

 which time it is cut for use, and is then called Knotted Mar- 

 joram, from the flowers being collected into roundish close 

 heads like knots. It is thought to be the Amaracus of the 

 ancients. Native of Portugal, and long cultivated in gardens. 

 The leaves and tops have a pleasant smell, and a moderately 

 warm, aromatic, bitterish taste. They yield a considerable 

 quantity of essential oil, amou'nting, according to Beaume, to 

 fifteen ounces from one hundred and fifty pounds of the 

 recent plant. The oil, on being kept long, assumes a solid 

 form. The medicinal qualities of the plant agree with those 

 of Wild Marjoram; but being much more fragrant, it is 

 deemed more cephalic, and better adapted to diseased nerves, 

 as it may be employed for the same purposes as Lavender. 

 It is directed in the composition of Pulvis Sternutatoris, or 

 Sneezing Powder, in the London and I^dindurgh Pharma- 

 copeias, on account of the agreeable odour which it gives to 

 the Asarabacca, rather than to its errhinc power, which is very 

 inconsiderable. In its recent state, we are told that it has 

 been successfully applied in sehirrhous tumors of the breast; 

 and Meyrick recommends a strong infusion of the leaves or 

 young tops, as good for warming raid strengthening the sto- 

 mach, and relieving vertigoes, giddiness, head-ache, and other 

 similar disorders. It may likewise be beneficially taken in 

 suppressions of the menses, and other obstructions. This 

 plant is propagated by seeds, which are generally imported 

 from the south of France, or from Italy, for thev seldom 

 ripen in England. Sow them on a warm border towards the 

 end of March ; and when the plants are about an inch high, 

 transplant them into beds of rich earth, at six inches' distance 



