199 LAVANDULA YEBA 



slightly hairy outside, violet coloured, mouth oblique, upper lip 

 large erect, divided into 2 blunt lobes, lower lip shorter, cut into 

 3 nearly equal blunt segments, tube very hairy within. Sta- 

 mens 4, inserted about the middle of the tube, filaments short, 

 white, 2 anterior longer, anthers 2 -celled, dark purplish-brown, 

 cells rounded, divaricate, fringed with hairs, pollen orange. Style 

 about as long as the corolla-tube, stigma blunt, shortly bifid. 

 Achenes smooth, pale brown. 



Habitat. The Lavender grows wild in hilly districts at a con- 

 siderable elevation above the sea in the south of France, Spain, 

 Northern Italy and other parts of the Mediterranean region, 

 including North Africa, but does not reach Asia Minor. As a 

 garden plant it is a very old favorite, being quite hardy in this 

 country and throughout Northern and Central Europe. In the 

 neighbourhood of Mitcham it is grown on a large scale, and it is 

 also cultivated at Hit chin and in Lincolnshire. 



L. latifolia, Vill. (L. Spica, var. (3, Linn., L. Spica, DG.), is now 

 maintained by most writers as a distinct species from L. vera. 

 It is a more delicate plant, and cannot be cultivated in the open 

 air in this country. It is figured in Hayne, viii, t. 38, Nees, t. 179, 

 and Steph. and Church., t. 40, and has a very close similarity to 

 the common Lavender. 



Gren. & Godr., Fl. France, ii, p. 647 ; Willk. & Lange, Prod. Fl. 

 Hisp., ii, p. 391 ; Fliick. & Hanb., Pharmacogr., p. 428 ; Lindl., 

 Fl. Med., p. 485. 



Official Parts and Names. OLEUM LAVANDULA ; the oil distilled 

 in Britain from the flowers (B. P.). The oil (Oleum Lavandulce) 

 obtained by distillation from the flowers (I. P.). LAVANDULA ; the 

 flowers (U. S. P.). 



1. LAVANDULA, Lavender flowers. These flowers have a greyish- 

 blue colour when dried, a strong fragrant odour, and a warm, bit- 

 terish, aromatic taste. Their odour is long retained after drying. 

 The flowering stalks are usually gathered in the early part of July, 

 and either dried entire in the shade or by a gentle heat, and then 

 made up into bundles ; or the flowers are stripped from the stalks 

 and dried by a moderate heat. 



