SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 299 



ovate, nearly entire ; flowers in dense spikes, violet-purple, the 

 upper lip bending over the lower. Pastures, tanks, etc. Fl. 

 July, August. 



(232) Calamintha. CALAMI NT. 



* Calyx-tube gibbous at the base beneath. 



C. Acinos : annual ; stems branched, 6-8 inches high, 

 slightly downy ; leaves small, narrow-ovate, slightly toothed ; 

 flowers pale purple or white, in axillary whorls on short, erect 

 pedicels. Basil Thyme. Fields. Fl. July, August. 



** Calyx-tube equal at the base. 



C. officinalis : stems hairy, ascending or erect, with strag- 

 gling branches, 1 foot high ; leaves broadly ovate, toothed ; 

 flowers pinkish-lilac, in small loose cymes, forming terminal, 

 one-sided, leafy panicles ; calyx tubular, ribbed, half as long 

 as the corolla, the teeth with long cilia. Hedges, roadsides, 

 and waste places. Fl. July to September. Mr. Bentham 

 makes the two following plants varieties of this : 



C. Nepeta : leaves ovate, nearly entire ; flower-cymes con- 

 tracted into loose whorls, the corolla half as long again as the 

 calyx, which is shortly ciliate. Dry open, sunny banks. 



C. sylvatica : stem taller ; leaves larger, broadly ovate, 

 sharply toothed ; cymes loose, the flowers showy, the corolla 

 fully twice as long as the calyx. Woods in the Isle of Wight. 



C. Clinopodium : stems erect or ascending, branched, softly 

 hairy, 1-2 feet high ; leaves ovate, slightly toothed, soft, 

 hairy ; flowers purple, in dense cymes, forming compact 

 whorls or heads in the axils of the upper leaves, or at the 

 ends of the branches, surrounded by subulate, hairy bracts. 

 Wild Basil. Hedges and woods. Fl. July, August. 



