PLANTS GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 267 



others. Stamens : four; the anther-cells approach and form a little cross, /"/j- 

 //V: one; style, two-lobed. Leaves: opposite; on petioles; roundish kidney- 

 shaped ; smooth. Stem : creeping ; trailing. 



This is the little plant that the English love so dearly and 

 which blooms abundantly in the pasturage every springtime. 

 We have hardly the same fondness for it here and rather resent 

 the calm manner in which it has taken possession of the soil, 

 especially where it is most distasteful to cattle. It is allied to 

 our catnep, also a European plant, and was formerly much used 

 as a medicine. 



We are frequently amused to watch the growth and self 

 satisfaction of many European plants that establish themselves 

 in this country and sometimes exterminate those native to the 

 soil. What advantage have they, we naturally ask, that makes 

 them triumphant in the survival of the fittest? Very probably 

 it is because they leave their destroying insects on the other 

 side of the water. If this is so we cannot but sympathise with 

 them in their attempt to flee from persecution. 



AMERICAN PENNYROYAL. 



Hedebma pulegioides. 



FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 



Mini. Purplish blue. Strongly scented. New England south- Midsummer. 



•ward and westward. 



Flowers: small; axillary; whorled. Calyx: two-lipped. Corolla: two- 

 lipped; the upper lip erect and notched, the lower lij) three-lobed. Stamevs : 

 two. Pistil: one; style, two-lobed. Leaves: opposite; on petioles; ovate; 

 pungent to the taste. Stem ; low; erect: branching ; square ; hairy. 



A place that is remembered in connection wnth this well- 

 known little plant is a teeing ground of a golf course in a high 

 upland meadow in Dutchess county. There, bordering the 

 hard-packed square of dirt, it grows in great profusion and 

 can be scented from a considerable distance. We can well be- 

 lieve in its medicinal properties ; for even to nibble at tlie leaves 

 on a warm day is refreshing. It is closely allied to Mentha 

 Pulegium, the true pennyroyal of Europe. 



