350 MINT FAMILY. 



ners, oblong or almost linear leaves, or ovate on the runners, the loose 

 purplish flowers about ^' long. 



C. Nepeta, Link. Basil Thyme. Nat. from p]u. from Md., W. and 

 S.; soft-downy, branching, l°-2° high, with round-ovate crenate leaves, 

 small and loose purple flowers, and calyx hairy in the throat. 



* * Flowers iti terminal heads or head-like whorls, crowded with awl- 

 shaped bracts. 



C. Clinop6dium, Benth. Basil. Waste grounds and along thickets ; 

 hairy, with ratlier 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. Flowers summer. 2/ 



M. officinalis, Linn. Common B. Gardens, sparingly running wild ; 

 rather hairy, loosely-branched, lemon-scented, with ovate or scarcely 

 heart-shaped crenate-toothed leaves, and yellowish or soon white flowers 

 in small loose axillary clusters. 



21. SALVIA, SAGE. (Latin salvo, save, from its reputed healing 

 qualities.) (Lessons, Figs. 302, 303. ) 



* Blue-flowered species {corolla sometimes partly white). % 



-t- Leaves halberd- shaped or triangular-ovate. 



S- patens, Cav. Mexico; 2°-3° high, rather hairy, with crenate-serrate 

 pubescent leaves, the uppermost sessile ones sometimes oval, loose-pedi- 

 celed flowers, showy deep blue corolla over 2' long, the lips widely gaping. 

 Cult, in borders. 



-t- H- Leaves narrower, not halberd-like at base. 



++ Flowers in distinct whorls near the top of the stem. 



S. lyrdta, Linn. Sandy soil from N. J. to 111. and 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; upper lip of calyx 3-toothed ; lower cell 

 of the anther present but deformed. 



S. officinalis, Linn. Common Sage. From S. Eu.; low but erect, 

 minutely hoary-pubescent, with oblong-lanceolate leaves finely reticu- 

 lated-rugose and the margins crenulate, spiked flower-whorls, and short 

 corolla. 



++ ++ Flowers in racemose or spiciform inflorescence, the whorls, if any, 



small and loose. 



= Corolla tube scarcely exserted beyond the calyx. Flowers small. 



S. urticif6lia, Linn. Woodlands from Md., W. and S. ; l°-2° high, 

 leafy, somewhat clammy-downy ; leaves rhombic-ovate ; racemes slender, 

 the blue and white corolla only i' long ; lower cell of the anther wanting. 



= = Corolla tube conspicuously exserted. 



S. aziirea, Lam. Sandy soil S. Car. , S. and W. ; nearly smooth and 

 green, with rather simple stems, 2°-4° high; leaves lance-linear, with 

 tapering base, obtuse, entire, or the lower serrate ; the showy azure-blue 

 flowers (less tlinn 1' long) numerous in a spike-like raceme. 



Var. grandifl6ra, Benth. (S. PfxcHERi). Kansas to Texas; inflores.- 

 cence denser ; minutely soft-downy ; occasionally cultivated. 



