452 THE MINT FAMILY. 



Noticeable about its flowers is the fact that the corolla is nearly glabrous, 

 and while the stem is pubescent below it is above quite glandular. 



S. integrifblia, hyssop skullcap with its linear, oblong entire leaves and 

 blue flowers having white undersides, is another very attractive individual 

 and continues to bloom from May until August. Often the larger lower lip 

 is longer than the upper, arched one and is much drooped. 



Macbridea pulchra. 



Flowers : growing in axillary whorles of mostly four each. Calyx: furrowed, 

 the three lobes entire. Corolla : long, inflated, two-lipped, the upper one entire, 

 arched, the lower one three-lobed and spreading. Stamens : four hairy filaments. 

 Leaves: oval or lanceolate, tapering to a point at the apex and at the base into 

 margined petioles or the uppermost sessile, remotely dentate; thin; smooth; dotted. 

 Stem : one to two feet, erect, simple, or branching at the summit. 



Very excusable one might be for mistaking this pretty plant for a Scutel- 

 laria, so much does it generally resemble that genus, but on a closer examina- 

 tion it is found that its calyx is not two-lipped, nor has it any little cap to 

 close down over and protect the forming seeds. 



OBEDIENT PLANT. FALSE DRAGON HEAD. 



Pliysostegia Virginiatia. 



Flowers: growing closely in a dense spike on short, bracted flower-stalks. 

 Calyx: bell-shaped with five sharp and equal teeth. Corolla: funnel-form; in- 

 flated, two-lipped; the upper one arched and broad, the lower one with three spread- 

 ing lobes of which the central one is i^ale and dotted with a deeper colour. Statneits: 

 four, in pairs on the corolla the filaments pubescent. Pistil : one; style, two- 

 lobed. Leaves: opposite; lanceolate; serrate; smooth. Stem: erect; slightly 

 branched; one to four feet high. 



Although we may not be so fortunate as to find the obedient plant in the 

 wildest parts of its range, there is still a chance that, near some cabin's door- 

 way when the women sit silently peeling apples, we may catch a glint of its 

 brilliant colouring. For somehow it has the look and qualities that render 

 it a chosen one for planting with lady's slippers, bleeding-hearts and other 

 plants called old-fashioned. In the east it is probably only as an escape 

 that it is seen. A curious point about the delicate flowers is that they seem 

 to be overpowered by lassitude. They have no elasticity. So when one is 

 turned with the thumb and finger to another than its original position in the 

 spike, it makes no effort to rebound, but remains most obediently wherever 

 it is put, 



