106 MARJORAM. 



medicinal purposes. It is specifically distinguished from the 

 wild kind, by its roundish, thin, compact spikes, and more 

 elliptical leaves, as well as by its general habit : it possesses 

 similar properties, and the one may always be substituted for 

 the other. 



Qualities and general Uses.— The dried leaves of this plant are 

 very grateful, and have been recommended as a substitute for tea. They 

 may also be employed like the sweet Marjoram for culinary purposes, to give 

 relish to soups, omelets, stuffings, &c. The plant deserves a place in gardens 

 by the side of O. Majorana^ and it is easily propagated by the seeds or by slips. 

 The country people use the flowering tops to dye linen cloth purple ; for this 

 purpose it should be previously steeped in alum water, and then immersed 

 for forty-eight hours in a decoction of the bark of the crab tree. The herb 

 also imparts a bright reddish brown colour to wool, especially if the latter 

 be frequently taken out of the liquor and properly beaten. The dried plant 

 suspended in a cask of beer is said to prevent or correct the acidity of that 

 liquor *. According to the Swedish experiments, goats and sheep eat it, 

 horses are not fond of it, and kine refuse it. 



The leaves and flowering tops have an agreeable aromatic 

 smell, resembling that of Wild Thyme, and a warm, pungent, 

 somewhat acrid taste. Water extracts these qualities by 

 infusion, and by distillation with that fluid, a moderate quantity 

 of very acrid penetrating oil is obtained. It also affords cam- 

 phor like many other Labiatae, and a gum-resinous extractive 

 matter, in great part soluble in water, to which it imparts a red 

 colour. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — Common Marjoram has 

 tonic, stimulant, and carminative properties, hence it has been 

 much lauded in asthma, coughs, and various spasmodic affec- 

 tions. It has also been considered resolutive, sudorific, 

 diuretic, and emmenagogue, but without much claim to some 

 of these appellations. As a tonic and stomachic it may be 

 useful in obstructions of the lungs, or superabundance of 

 mucous secretions, where there is no fever or irritation, and in 

 many of those diseases called nervous. 



Externally it has been particularly recommended in fomenta- 

 tion, or applied in little bags to indolent tumours and swellings, 



* u If it be added towards the close of the fermentation, it renders the 

 ale or beer more intoxicating."-^ Lin. Fl. Suec. 534. 



