230 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



1. 0. BASIL'ICUM, L. Leaves ovate-oblong, subdentate, smooth, with 

 ciliate petioles ; calyx reflexed after flowering. 



KOYAL OCIMUM. Sweet Basil. 



Fr. Basilic. Germ. Gemeines Basilienkraut. Span. Albahaca. 



Root annual. Stem, 6-12 inches high, often much branched, smoothish at base, pubes- 

 cent above with short reflexed hairs. Leaves half an inch to an inch long ; petioles one- 

 third to two-thirds of an inch long. Bracts ovate, acuminate, petiolate, ciliate. Calyx in- 

 flated-campanulate. Corolla whitish or bluish-white. 



Gardens : cultivated. Native of India. Fl. July. Fr. September. 



06s. This fragrant little plant is one of the numerous kitchen-garden 

 herbs, usually cultivated for culinary purposes. 



2. LAVAN'DULA, L. LAVENDER. 



[Latin, lavare, to wash, the distilled water being used for that purpose.] 



Calyx tubular, ovoid-cylindric, ribbed, with 5 short teeth, the upper one 

 sometimes dilated and produced at apex. Corolla with the upper lip 2- 

 lotied, and the lower one 3-lobed ; lobes all nearly equal, spreading. 

 Stamens 4, included ; filaments smooth, not toothed. Akenes smooth 

 and even, adnate to 4 fleshy scales on the margin of the disk. Peren- 

 nial herbs, or suffruticose plants, the stems leafy near the base, but often 

 naked below the spike. Flowers in terminal spikes. 

 1. L. VE'KA, DC. Leaves hoary, lance-linear, entire, revolute on the 

 margin ; spikes interrupted. 

 TRUE LAVANDULA. Lavender. Garden Lavender. 

 Fr. La Lavande. Germ. Der Lavandel. Span. Espliego. 



Plant clothed with a short hoary tomentum. Stem suffruticosc, branching from the 

 base ; branches erect, 12-28 inches high. Leaves 1-2 inches long, crowded near the base 

 of the branches, often with fascicles of young leaves in the axils. Flowers in a terminal 

 imbricated spike about an inch in length, with 1-2 distant cymules below. Corolla blue, 

 pubescent, nearly twice as long as the calyx. 



Gardens : cultivated. Native of Southern Europe and shores of the Mediterranean. 

 Fl. July. Fr. September. 



Obs. The compound tincture of the flowers of this herb (or, as the 

 good ladies term it, " Lavender Compound" ) is deservedly popular, for 

 its cordial and stomachic properties. The distilled water is also highly 

 esteemed for its pungent and grateful fragrance. The dried flowers are 

 , used to fill scent bags to lay in drawers with linen, and the oil distilled 

 from them is much used in the manufacture of perfumery. 



3. MEN'THA, L, MINT, 



[From Minthe, a nymph ; fabled to have been changed into this plant.] 



Calyx campanulate or tubular, 5-toothed, equal or nearly so. Corolla 

 with a short included tube ; the border nearly equally 4-cleft, the up- 

 per lobe broader and usually emarginate. Stamens 4, nearly equal, erect, 

 distant ; filaments glabrous, naked ; anthers with 2 parallel cells. PC- 



