348 LABIATE. (MINT FAMILY.) 



fine dose down. (Brachystemum verticillatum, Michx.) Dry hills, Maine to 

 Ohio, Kentucky, and southward. Flowers in very dense clusters ; the outer 

 bracts ovate-lanceolate and pointed, the others pointless. 



* * * * Calyx equally 5-toothed: flowers collected in dense and globular, often fas- 



cicled, small and numerous heads, which are crowded in terminal corymbs: bracts 

 rigid, closely oppressed, shorter than the flowers: lips of the corolla very short: 

 leaves narrow, sessile, entire, rigid, crowded and clustered in the axils. 



8. P. lanceolatum, Pursh. Smoothish or minutely pubescent (2 high) ; 

 leaves lanceolate or lance-linear, obtuse at the base ; heads downy ; calyx-teeth short 

 and triangular. Dry thickets : not rare. 



9. P. Iinif61ium, Pursh, Smoother and leaves narrower and heads less 

 downy than in the last ; the narrower bracts and lance-awl-shaped calyx-teeth pun- 

 gently pointed. S. New England to Illinois, and southward. 



# # # # * Calyx equally 5-toothed : flowers collected in few and solitary large and 



globular heads (terminal, and in the upper axils of the metoibranaceous petioled 

 leaves) ; the bracts loose, ciliate-bearded. 



10. P. montnum, Michx. Stem (l-3 high) and ovate- or oblong- 

 lanceolate serrate leaves glabrous ; bracts very acute or awl-pointed, the outer- 

 most ovate and leaf-like, the inner linear ; teeth of the tubular calyx short and 

 acute. Alleghanies, from S. Virginia southward. Flavor warm and pleas- 

 ant. Foliage and heads resembling Monarda. 



9. ORIGANUM, L. WILD MARJORAM. 



v 

 Calyx ovate-bell-shaped, hairy in the throat, striate, 5-toothed. Tube of the 



corolla about the length of the calyx, 2-lipped ; the upper lip rather erect and 

 slightly notched ; the lower longer, of 3 nearly equal spreading lobes. Stamens 

 4, exserted, diverging. Perennials, with nearly entire leaves, and purplish 

 flowers crowded in cylindrical or oblong spikes, imbricated with colored bracts. 

 (An ancient Greek name, said to be composed of opos, a mountain, and ydvosi 

 delight.) 



1 . O. VULG ARE, L. Upright, hairy, corymbose at the summit ; leaves peti- 

 oled, round-ovate ; bracts ovate, obtuse, purplish. Dry banks : scarce. June - 

 Oct. (Nat. from Eu.) 



10. THYMUS, L. THYME. 



Calyx ovate, 2-lipped, 13-nerved, hairy in the throat ; the upper lip 3-toothed, 

 spreading; the lower 2-cleft, with the awl-shaped divisions ciliate. Corolla 

 short, slightly 2-lipped ; the upper lip straight and flattish, notched at the apex ; 

 the lower 3-cleft. Stamens 4, straight and distant, usually exserted. Low per- 

 ennials, with small and entire strongly-veined leaves, and purplish or whitish 

 flowers. (The ancient Greek name of the Thyme, probably from 6va>, to burn 

 perfume, because it was used for incense.) 



1. T. SERPYLLUM, L. (CREEPING THYME.) Prostrate; leaves green, flat, 

 ovate, entire, short-petioled, flowers crowded at the end of the branches. Old 

 fields, Eastern New England to Pennsylvania: rare. (Adv. from Eu.) The 

 GARDEN THYME is T. VULGARIS, L. 



