MINT FAMILY. 249 



16. ORtGANUM, MARJORAM. (Old Greek name, said to mean delight 

 of mountains.) Natives of the Old Worid : SAveet-herbs : fl. summer. Jf. 



O. vulgare, WILD MARJORAM. Old gardens, and wild on some road- 

 sides ; l-2 high, with small ovate nearly entire leaves, on short petioles, and 

 purplish flowers in eorymbcd purple-bracted clusters or short spikes ; calyx 

 equally 5-toothed. 



O. Majorana, SWKKT MARJORAM. Cult, in kitchen-gardens (as an ) ; 

 leaves small and linely soft-downy ; the hracts not colored ; flowers whitish or 

 purplish, with calyx hardly toothed but cleft nearly down on the lower side. 



17. THYMTJS, THYME. (Ancient Greek and Latin name ) Low or 

 creeping slightly woody-stemmed sweet-aromatic plants of the Old World : 

 fl. small, in summer. Leaves in the common species entire, small, from 4' 

 to near ' long, ovate, obovate or oblong with tapering base. 2/ 



T. Serpyllum, CREEPING THYME. Cult, as a sweet herb, rarely a little 

 spontaneous ; creeping, forming broad flat perennial turfs ; leaves green ; 

 whorls of purplish or flesh-colored flowers crowded or somewhat spiked at the 

 ends of the flowering branches. 



T. VUlgaris, COMMON- THYME. Rarely cult., more upright and bushy 

 than the other, pale and rather hoary ; flowers in shorter clusters. 



18. SATUREIA, SAVORY. (The ancient Latin name.) Aromatic : 

 fl. summer. 



S. hortensis, SUMMER SAVORY. Low and homely sweet herb of the gar- 

 dens, sparingly run w r ild W., with oblong-linear leaves tapering at base, and 

 pale or purplish small flowers clustered in their axils, or running into panicled 

 spikes at the end of the branches. 



19. CALAMINTHA, CALAMINTH. ( Greek for beautiful Mint. ) FL 

 summer. 2/ 



1. Flowers loose in the axils, or dbore running into racemes or panicles. 



C. glabella, A delicate native but uncommon species, only from Niagara 

 Falls W. : smooth, with weak stems 5' -20' long, also with creeping runners, 

 oblong or almost linear leaves, or ovate on the runners, the loose purplish flow- 

 ers about ' long. 



C. N6peta, BASIL-THYME. Nat. from Eu. from Virginia S. : soft-downy, 

 branching, l-2 high, with round-ovate crenate leaves, small and loose purple 

 flowers, and calyx hairy in the throat. 



2. Flowers in terminal heads or head-like whorls, crowded with awl-shaped bracts. 



C. Clinopbdium, BASIL. Waste grounds and along thickets ; hairy, 

 with rather simple stems l-2 long, ovate and nearly entire petioled leaves, 

 and pale purple small corollas. 



20. MELISSA, BALM, BEE-BALM. (Old name from Greek for bee. ) 

 Old- World sweet herbs. Fl. summer. 2/ 



M. officinalis, COMMON- B. Gardens, sparingly running wild ; rather 

 hairv, loosely-branched, lemon-scented, with ovate or scarcely heart-shaped cre- 

 nate'-toothed" leaves, and yellowish or soon white flowers in small loose axillary 

 clusters. 



21. SALVIA, SAGE. (From the Latin salvo, to save, from its reputed 

 healing qualities.) 



1. WILD SAGES of the country, all with blue or partly ichite corollas. ^J 

 * Upper lip of calyx 3-toothed: lower cell of the anther present but defamed. 

 S. lyrata. Sandy soil from New Jersey to III. & S. : l-2 high, rather 

 hairy, with leaves mostly at the root and obovate or lyre-shaped, and a smaller 

 pair* on the stem; whorls of flowers forming an interrupted raceme; corolla 

 hardly 1' long. 



