MINT FAMILY 



(Labiate) 



Herbs or shrubs, usually aromatic, with square stems and 

 opposite leaves. Corolla mostly 2-lipped, the upper lip 

 2-lobed, the lower generally 3-lobed. Stamens sometimes 2, 

 but typically 4, two shorter than the others. Style 2-cleft, 

 rising from the midst of the 4-lobed ovary. 



ROMERO (Trichostema lanatum, Benth.). Flowers blue, 

 nearly an inch long, densely clothed with a violet wool, the 

 calyces and buds pinkish-purple; the stamens (first coiled like 

 a watch spring in the unopened corolla limb) conspicuously 

 long exserted with threadlike filaments. Flowers borne in 

 terminal interrupted clusters on shrubby stems 2 to 5 feet 

 high. Leaves thickish, narrow, the margins turned under, 

 shiny above and white-woolly beneath. 



This showy shrub blooms from May to July on dry hills 

 of Southern California, and from its foliage might be mistaken 

 for Rosemary which indeed is the meaning of its common 

 name Romero. It is a valued medicinal herb among the 

 Spanish-Californians, a liniment being made of the leaves for 

 bruises. 



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