MINT FAMILY 



Carolina, west to Minnesota and Nebraska. June-Sep- 

 tember. The dried leaves and blooming tops are still 

 quoted in the drug market. 



Stem. — Two to four feet high, leafy, square, purplish, 

 hollow; dividing- toward the 

 summit into several blooming 

 branches. 



Leaves. — Opposite, on slen- 

 der petioles; deeply and promi- 

 nently veined; lower leaves, 

 round in outline, two to four 

 inches broad, palmately cut 

 into five, sharp-pointed lobes; 

 upper leaves three-cleft, nar- 

 rowed at base, the lobes lanceo- 

 late, the middle one the largest. 



Flowers. — Small, pink, two- 

 lipped, woolly, in dense whorls 

 in the axils of two opposite 

 leaves. 



Calyx. — Tubular, bell-shaped, 

 with five awl-like spreading 

 teeth; stiff and sharp. 



Corolla. — Two-lipped, pink 

 or pale purple or white. Upper 

 lip oblong and entire, either 

 flattish or vaulted, densely 

 bearded; lower lip spreading, 

 three-lobed; lateral lobes ob- 

 long, middle lobe largest, entire. 



Stamens. — Four, in two pairs, ascending under the upper 

 lip of the corolla. Anthers deep red. 



Pistil. — Ovary deeply four-lobed; style two-cleft. Nut- 

 lets three-angled. 



Motherwort once had a great reputation as a do- 

 mestic remedy, but having lost that, it has become an 



182 



Motherwort. LeonHrus cardiaca 



