358 LABI AT AE (MINT FAMILY) 



stamens ascending against it, the lower lip three-lobed and spread- 

 ing. Seeds small, ovoid nutlets. (Fig. 248.) 



Means of control 



Drainage of the ground ; prevention of seed development by 

 close cutting early in the season. Cultivation of the soil at once 

 destroys the perennial roots. 



AMERICAN PENNYROYAL 

 Hededma pulegioldes, Pers. 



Other English names: Mock Pennyroyal, Squaw Mint, Stinking 



Balm, Mosquito Plant, Tickweed. 

 Native. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : July to September. 

 Seed-time: August to October. 

 Range: Cape Breton Island to Ontario and Minnesota, southward 



to Florida and Nebraska. 

 Habitat: Thin meadows, upland pastures, and in open woods about 



old stumps. 



The oil distilled from this herb is much used in making the 

 "mosquito dopes" which hunters and fishermen and many other 

 persons are obliged to use in localities where 

 mosquitoes are a plague ; the plant is also used 

 medicinally and the leaves and flowering tops, 

 collected in full bloom and dried, are worth one 

 to three cents a pound. In taste and odor the 

 plant is very like the true Pennyroyal, which 

 is European. 



Stem erect, square, very slender, softly 

 hairy, much branched, six inches to a foot in 

 height. Leaves a half-inch to an inch long, 

 thin, oblong-ovate, sparingly toothed, obtuse at 

 apex, and narrowed to short petioles. Flowers 

 in small axillary clusters, on short, hairy 

 FIG. 249. Ameri- peduncles; calyx hairy, the three upper teeth 

 To7e^oid%: triangular, the two lower ones awl-shaped; 

 x i. corolla lavender or pinkish, about a quarter-inch 



