LABI AT AE (MINT FAMILY) 



351 



Range: New Brunswick and Quebec to Minnesota, southward to 



Georgia and Kansas. 

 Habitat: Roadsides, neglected farmyards, waste places. 



This herb was formerly much used as a tonic and home remedy 

 for disordered nerves. It is still quoted in the drug market at 

 three to eight cents a pound, the leaves and the flowering tops 

 being the parts used, collected when in 

 full flower. 



Stem one to three feet high, erect, 

 rather stout, square, downy-hairy, and 

 much branched. Leaves opposite, ovate 

 or oblong heart-shaped, light green above, 

 downy beneath, deeply scallop-toothed, 

 with slender petioles. Flowers in termi- 

 nal spikes one to four inches long, sub- 

 tended by small, narrow bracts ; corolla 

 pale lilac or white, with pale purple 

 dots, the tube dilated in the throat and 

 the broad middle lobe of the lower lip 

 finely scalloped ; the stamens ascending J^Ej* | ^S* 

 under the upper lip, the lower pair the f 



shorter ; calyx downy, five-toothed, per- 

 sistent, containing the four nutlets, which 

 are ovoid, slightly flattened, smooth, and 

 brown. (Fig. 243.) 



Means of control 



T 



FIG. 243. Catnip or 

 Catmint (Nepeta Caiarid). 



xi. 



Cats are very fond of the plant and a few stalks grown for the 

 family pet may be welcome ; but patches of the weed about farm- 

 yards make a slovenly appearance and should be grubbed out. 

 Roadside and waste-land growth should be cut when beginning to 

 bloom. 



GROUND IVY 

 Nepeta hederacea, Trevisan 



Other English names: Field Balm, Gill-over-t he-Ground, Gill-ale, 



Ale-hoof, Cat's Foot. 

 Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by rootstocks. 



