Micromeria. LABIATE. 595 



10. M. Douglasii, Benth. A span to a foot or more high, loosely branched, 

 puberulent and above hirsute : leaves lanceolate (about an inch long), tapering into 

 the petiole, the veins inconspicuous and ascending : bracts ovate and ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, gradually acuminate to a cuspidate point, wholly or mainly transparent- 

 scarious (silvery white or tinged purplish), except the strong midrib and divergent 

 pinnate veins which all run into a marginal false vein of equal strength, forming a 

 rigid framework : corolla deep rose-color, the tube little exserted beyond the sharp- 

 pointed calyx-teeth. Lab. 332, & DC. Prodr. 1. c. M. candicans, var. venosa, 

 Torr. Pacif. II. Eep. iv. 123. 



Hills and plains, around San Francisco Bay and north to Yuba Co. Plant strong-scented. The 

 very thin and transparent veinless substance of the bracts set as in frames formed of the ribs and 

 simple veins. 



-*- -t- Corolla (white ?) small, with wholly included tube and short ovate-oblong lobes. 



11. M. leucocephala, Gray. A span or two high, minutely cinereous-pubes- 

 cent : leaves oblong or lanceolate, entire, short-petioled : bracts orbicular-ovate, 

 pointless, thin-scarious, bright white, 7 - 9-nerved, and with a few indistinct vein- 

 lets : calyx hirsute, finely and closely nerved ; the teeth subulate and whitish. 

 Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 385. 



Plains near Merced, Brewer. Bracts 4 or 5 lines long, the veins minutely hispid underneath. 

 Calyx 24 lines long. Corolla probably more conspicuous in other specimens. The species is a 

 very peculiar one. 



6. MICROMERIA, Benth. 



Calyx oblong or tubular, about 13-striate, terete, not gibbous nor declined, about 

 equally 5-toothed. Corolla short, naked within, distinctly bilabiate ; upper lip erect, 

 flattish, entire or emarginate ; lower spreading, 3-parted. Stamens 4 : filaments 

 arcuate-ascending ; the anterior pair longer : anthers 2-celled. Style glabrous. 

 Low plants, sweet-odorous, various in habit, with small flowers in the axils of the 

 leaves. 



A genus of numerous Old World and several South American species, one of which (of the 

 peculiar section, HESPEROTHYMUS) reaches the Southern Atlantic States, and has a relative 

 on the Pacific Coast. 



1. M. Douglasii, Benth. Perennial herb, slightly pubescent, with long and 

 slender creeping and trailing stems : leaves round-ovate, thin, sparingly toothed (an 

 inch or less in diameter) short-petioled : flowers mostly solitary in the axils, on a 

 long and filiform 2-bracteolate peduncle : calyx-teeth subulate : corolla purplish, 4 

 lines long, twice the length of the calyx, the tube exserted. Lab. 372. Thymus 

 Douglasii <fe Chamissonis, Benth. in Linnaja, vi. 82. Micromeria barbata, Fischer 

 & Meyer, Ind. Sem. Petrop. viii. 67. 



Woods of the Coast Ranges, mostly in sandy soil, from Santa Barbara Co. northward to Wash- 

 ington Territory. A sweet-scented herb, the well-known Yerba Bucna. 



2. M. purpurea, Gray. Erect and much branched, a foot or two high, rather 

 finely and loosely pubescent : leaves short-petioled, lanceolate, acuminate, sparsely 

 serrate with sharp appressed teeth (an inch long) : flowers numerous in umbel-like 

 sessile or short-peduncled fascicles in the axils of the leaves : calyx oblong-campanu- 

 late, about the length of the pedicels, naked in the throat ; the slender-subulate teeth 

 one third the length of the tube : corolla " purple-blue," 2 lines long, little exceed- 

 ing the calyx. Hedeoma purpurea, Kellogg in Proc. Calif. Acad. v. 52. 



Webb's Landing, on an island in the San Joaquin River, Kellogg. Plant with " the strong 

 odor and carminative properties of the common Pennyroyal." Not otherwise met with, and 

 rather obscure. It is in no respect a Hednoma : in unexpauded flower-buds all four filaments 

 bear fertile and similar anthers. 



