CLARY. 



175 



minate the stem and branches in lai'ge spikes of beautiful 

 purplish blue flowers, about six in a whorl, with a pan- of 

 heart-shaped acuminate bractese at the base of each whorl. 

 The calyx is striated, beset with glandular hairs, and formed of 

 two unequal lips, the upper of which is three-toothed, the corolla 

 is large, blueish purple, labiate, the tube dilated upwards ; the 

 upper lip concave, viscid at the summit ; the upper lip three- 

 lobed, the middle lobe largest, notched. The two filaments are 

 transversely attached to a footstalk, one only of each bearing a 

 one-celled anther. The germen is superior and four-cleft, sur- 

 mounted with a filiform curved style and a bifid stigma. The 

 seeds are four, apparently naked*, and lodged in the bottom of 

 the persistent calyx. Plate 13, fig. 1, (a) lower leaf; (6) calyx; 

 (c) stamens ; {d) pistil. 



Meadow Clary -j- occurs in dry pastures and about hedges in 

 some of the English counties, but is rather a rare plant. It 

 has been found in Surrey and Sussex plentifully ; near Cobham, 

 in Kent ; VVick-cliflTs, Gloucestershire ; and between Middleton, 

 Stoney, and Audley, Oxfordshire. It is very commonly culti- 

 vated in gardens, and flowers in Jvdy. 



The name is derived from salvo, to save or heal, on account 

 of the supposed healing properties of some of the species. 



There is one other British species, the Wild Clary (Salvia ver- 

 benacea), which is rather frequent in dry, chalky, or gravelly 

 pastures. The flowers are much smaller than in the Meadow 

 Clary, the leaves deeply serrated, and the whole plant darker 

 coloured. It is aromatic, and the seeds mucilaginous. 



The genus includes about 170 species, some of which, as 

 S. formosa and S. splendens, are very ornamental ; others 

 useful, as S. officinalis, which will be noticed hereafter. The 

 Apple-bearing Sage (^Salvia jwmifera), a native of Candia, is 

 infested by an insect which produces excrescences as large as 

 oak-galls. The flowers of the Glutinous Sage (^Salvia glutinosa), 

 are used in Holland to flavour the Rhenisli wines. The Annual 

 Clary (^Salvia Horminurti), was once held in considerable repute 

 as a medicine, and its mucilaginous seed bruised, and a small 



* i. e., Closely covered by the pericarp {Gymnospermous). 



\ This species has been selected for illustration because it is indigenous, 

 otherwise the True Clary (^S. Sclarea) has been held in greater esteem as a 

 medicinal agent, and is certainly more potent in its effects. 



