GERMANDEK. 353 



Stems are branched, and decumbent at the base, then ascending, 

 simple, obsoletely four-sided, hairy, and from nine inches to a 

 foot in height. The leaves are opposite, shortly petiolate, ob- 

 tuse, spreading, ovate, approaching to wedge-shaped, smooth, 

 pubescent, veined, bright green above, paler beneath, deeply 

 serrate at the margin, and sometimes slightly lobed. The 

 flowers are supported on short peduncles, and are placed two or 

 three together in the axils of the upper leaves, of which the 

 uppermost, or bracteae, are nearly entire at the margin. The 

 calyx is angular, hairy, ovate -turbinate, with five, nearly equal, 

 ovate-acuminate, ciliate teeth, of a purplish hue. The corolla is 

 reddish purple, much longer than the calyx, with a short, curved 

 tube, and divided at the limb into two lips, of which the upper 

 is short and bipartite, the lower one three-lobed, the middle lobe 

 large, roundish. The stamens are didynamous, much pro- 

 truded, with slender white filaments, terminated by simple 

 anthers, with two confluent, spreading cells. The germen is 

 four-parted, and from its centre rises a filiform style, longer 

 than the stamens, surmounted by a bifid stip-raa. The fruit is 

 composed of four achenia or small nuts, each containino- a 

 single seed, enclosed in the persistent calyx. Plate 22, fio-. 2, 

 (a) calyx ; (b) corolla ; (c) pistil. 



This plant is a native of Britain, growing on ruined walls 

 and by the borders of fields, but not common. It flowers in 

 July. 



Teucrium was the name given in honour of Teucer, prince of 

 Troy, who, according to Pliny, was the first to discover the 

 medicinal qualities of some plant alhed to this. It is called 

 Chama?drys from the Greek %a'x2<, on the ground, and ^vs, an 

 oak, in allusion to the oak-like leaves ; for the same reason it 

 has obtained the names Quercula in Latin, Petit Chene in French, 

 and Ground-oak in English. In the Herbier de Mayence, pub- 

 lished in 1485, it is called Gamandre ; hence the common 

 French and English names of the plant. 



The species most noted for their uses are the Wood German- 

 der or Sage, (T. Scorodonia,) frequent in woods in this country, 

 distinguished by its cordate, wrinkled leaves, and one-sided 

 racemes of yellowish flowers ; Cat-Thyme Germander, ( T. 

 Marum,) a native of Spain, very aromatic; Poly, (7'. PoUum,) 

 and the subject of the following article. 



