Mkromeria. LABIAT^E. 595 



10. M. Douglasii, Benth. A span to a foot or more liigh, loosely branched, 

 puberuleut and above hirsute : leaves lanceolate (about an inch long), tapering into 

 the petiole, the veins inconspicuous and ascending : bracts ovate and ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, gradually acuminate to a cuspidate point, wholly or mainly transparent- 

 scarious (silvery white or tinged purplish), except the strong midrib and divergent 

 pinnate veins wliich all run into a marginal false vein of equal strength, forming a 

 rigid framework : corolla deep rose-color, the tube little exserted beyond the sharj)- 

 pointed calyx-teeth. — Lab. 332, & DC. Prodr. 1. c. M. caudicans, var. veuosa, 

 Torr. Pacif. E. Eep. iv. 123. 



Hills and plains, around San Francisco Bay and north to Yuba Co. Plant strong-scented. The 

 very thin and transparent veinless substance of the bracts set as in frames formed of the ribs and 

 simple veins. 



^ j^ Corolla (u'hite ?) small, toith wliolly included tube and short ovate-oblong lobes. 



11. M. leucocephala, Gray. A span or two high, minutely cinereous-pube.s- 

 cent : leaves oblung or lanceolate, entire, short-petioled : bracts orbicular-ovate, 

 pointless, thin-scarious, bright white, 7 - 9-nerved, and with a few indistinct vein- 

 lets : calyx hirsute, hnely and closely nerved ; the teeth subulate and whitish. — 

 Proc. Am. Acad. vii. 385. 



Plains near Merced, Brewer. Bracts 4 or 5 lines long, the veins minutely hispid underneath. 

 Calyx 21 lines long. Corolla probably more conspicuous in other specimens. The species is a 

 very peculiar one. 



6. MICROMERIA, Benth. 



Calyx oblong or tubular, about 13-striate, terete, not gibbous nor declined, about 

 equally 5-toothed. Corolla short, naked within, distinctly bilabiate ; upper lip erect, 

 flattish, entire or emarginate ; lower spreading, 3-parted, Stamens 4 : filaments 

 arcuate-ascending ; the anterior pair longer : anthers 2-celled. Style glabrous. — 

 Low plants, sweet-odorous, various in habit, with small flowers in the axils of the 

 leaves. 



A genus of numerous Old World and several South American species, one of which (of the 

 peculiar section, Hespehotiiymus) reaches the Southern Atlantic States, and has a relative 

 on the Pacific Coast. 



1. M. Douglasii, Benth. Perennial herb, slightly pubescent, with long and 

 slender creeping and trailing stems : leaves round-ovate, thin, sparingly toothed (an 

 inch or less in diameter) short-petioled : flowers mostly solitary in the axils, on a 

 Ion" and filiform 2-bracteolate peduncle : calyx-teeth subulate : corolla purplish, 4 

 lines long, twice the length of the calyx, the tube exserted. — Lab. 372. Thym7is 

 Douglasii & Ckamissonis, Benth. in Linnoea, vi. 82. Micromeria barbata, Fischer 

 & Meyer, Ind. Sem. Petrop. viii. 67. 



Woods of the Coast Ranges, mostly in sandy soil, from Santa Barbara Co. northward to Wash- 

 ington Territory. A sweet-scented herb, the well-known Verba Buena. 



2. M. purpurea, Gray. Erect and much branched, a foot or two high, rather 

 finely and loosely pubescent : leaves short-petioled, lanceolate, acuminate, sparsely 

 serrate with sharp appressed teeth (an inch long) : flowers numerous in umbel-like 

 sessile or short-peduncled fascicles in the axils of the leaves : calyx oblong-campanu- 

 late, about tlie length of the pedicels, naked in the throat ; the slender-subulate teeth 

 one third the length of the tube : corolla " purple-blue," 2 lines long, little exceed- 

 ing the calyx. — Hedeoma purpurea, Kellogg in Proc. Cahf. Acad. v. 52. 



Webb's Landing, on an island in the San Joaqiiin River, Kellogg. Plant with "the strong 

 odor and carminative properties of the common Pennyroyal." Not otiierwise met with, and 

 rather obscure. It is in no respect a Hcdcoma : in unexpanded flower-buds all four filaments 

 bear fertile and similar anthers. 



