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 Eu. 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 in terminal heads or head-like whorls, crowded with awl- 

 shaped bracts. 



C. Clinopddium, Benth. 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. Flowers summer. ^ 



M. officinal is, 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. SAL VIA, SAGE. (Latin salvo, save, from its reputed healing 

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



* Blue-flowered species (corolla sometimes partly white}. 2/ 

 *- 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, ioose-pedi- 

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

 Cult, in borders. 



*- -- Leaves narrower, not halberd-like at base. 

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



B. lyr^ta, Linn. Sandy soil from N. J. to HI. 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. officina/is, 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. 



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

 small and loose. 



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



B. urticif6lia, Linn. Woodlands from Md., W. and S. ; 1-2 C 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. 



B. azdrea, 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 than 1' long) numerous in a spike-like raceme. 



Var. grandifldra, Benth. (S. P^TCHERI). Kansas to Texas; inflores- 

 cence denser ; minutely soft-downy ; occasionally cultivated. 



