238 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



usually ascending. Flowers numerous in dense spikes, temiinating the 

 stem and branches, the spikes becoming 4 to 8 inches long in fniit. Calyx 

 bell-shaped with five ovate, pointed teeth about half as long as the tube 

 of the calyx, in fruit becoming oblong, one-third to nearly one-half of an 

 inch long. Corolla pale purple, rose or rarely white, about i inch long, 

 temporarily remaining in whatever position it is placed, which accounts 

 for one of the common names of the plant (Obedient Plant). Tube of the 

 corolla gradually enlarged upward, its limb strongly two-lipped; upper lip 

 concave, rounded, entire; lower lip spreading, thrce-lobed, the middle lobe 

 notched at the apex; the four stamens ascending under the upper lip of the 

 corolla, their filaments pubescent. 



In moist meadows, roadsides and fields, Quebec to Minnesota, south 

 to Florida and Texas. Flowering from July to September. 



Oswego Tea; American Bee Balm 



Jllomirda didyiiia Linnaeus 



Plate 1 89 



Stems slender or rather stout, pubescent or nearly smooth, 2 to 4 feet 

 high from a perennial root, simple or sparingly branched above. Leaves 

 thin, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, usually pubescent, at least beneath, sharp 

 pointed at the apex, rovmded or narrowed at the base, sharply toothed on 

 the margins, 2 to 6 inches long, i to 3 inches wide, the petioles one-half to 

 I inch long or the upper ones shorter. Flowers in terminal, solitary clus- 

 ters at the ends of the branches or stems, subtended bj^ several red or par- 

 tially red bracts. Calyx tubular, narrow, fifteen-nerved with five small, 

 awnlike teeth, smooth without, hairy within. Corolla scarlet, i^ to 2 

 inches long, the limb two-lipped, the upper lip erect, the lower lip spreading 

 and three-loVjed, the middle lobe the largest. Stamens four, but only two 

 of them anther-ljearing and projecting out of the flower, the other two 

 stamens rudimentary. 



In moist soil, especially along streams, Quebec to Alichigan, south to 

 Georgia and Tennessee. Flowering in July and August. 



