THE MINT FAMILY. 4-5 



stood up among the many surrounding, smaller plants. About its luxuriant 

 heads of bloom there was a pleasing, open appearance, while its soft and 

 pastel-like shade of lavender is but little seen among the wild flowers. 

 Later in the season when its blossoms have perished the remaining 

 bracts of various mottled colours frequently attract the eye. One of the 

 plant's chief charms, however, is its spicy, pungent odour which remains 

 on the fingers for a long time after they have been rubbed against its parts. 



All in fact of the monardas, or horse-mints, are more than usually pleas- 

 ing plants, and from early summer stretch out their bloom until late in the 

 autumn. 



M. di'dynia, Oswego tea, crimson, or American bee balm, the handsomest 

 of the genus and one of our most brilliant wild flowers, chooses to grow in 

 cool, ferny spots among the dense greens of midsummer. Here, its blos- 

 soms of as brilliant a scarlet as those of the cardinal flower and its red 

 bracts produce often a startling effect. In rounded, solitary heads they are 

 produced, the long two-lipped corolla having its lower spreading lip three- 

 lobed while the upper one is erect and arched. The stamens are exserted, 

 and the mostly ovate-lanceolate leaves are vividly green. 



AT. punctata, horse-mint, is known from the others by its large, con- 

 spicuous purple, or white-tinted, bracts and its yellowish corollas abundantly 

 spotted with purple or crimson. More than usually arched also is the upper 

 and pubescent lip. In the throat the calyx is villous while its teeth are short 

 and triangular. When well grown it is a striking plant and its flower's con- 

 struction most interesting. 



AMERICAN PENNYROYAL. SQUAW HINT. 



Hcdebnia pidegio\dcs. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Mint. Pale purple. Foliage fragrant. Florida to Ontario and J une-Stptiml'cr. 



luestwa rd. 



Flowers: very small, usually six, growing in loose, axillary whorles. Calyx: 

 tubular, mostly irregularly five-toothed and villous in the throat. Corolla: two- 

 lipped, the lower one three-cleft, the upper one entire or notched. Per feet stamens : 

 two; imperfect ones two or none. Leases : small ; oblong-ovate, pointed at the 

 apex and narrowed at the base into a short petiole ; remotely serrate, paler below 

 than above; smooth or slightly pubescent. SU-tn: six to eighteen inches high, 

 much branched from near the base ; pubescent. 



Having none better, we mostly call this familiar little plant by the common 

 name of American pennyroyal that it may be designated from its near rela- 

 tive, the European pennyroyal, Mentha Pulegium. It is sprightly and vigor- 

 ous, and moreover good to nibble at as the thirsty and weary one wanders 

 over the dry, sun-baked soil of hillsides. The heavy oil distilled from the 

 plant has various qualities among which not the least known is its obnox- 



