206 



DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



garden ; Vergil reeummeDds it for the use of bees; and Lindley savs the deli- 

 cate flavor of Narbonne honey is due to access of the bees to the rosemary. 

 It was brought to North America by colonists in the latter part of the 

 seventeenth century. • 



Use. — It is difficult to find a plant to which greater and more numerous 

 qualities have been attributed, or one that is more widely known or in greater 

 repute than this humble shrub. The Greeks bound it on the head for gar- 

 lands. The leaves and flowers decorated the bride to indicate fidelity. Anne 

 of Cleves wore it at her wedding with Henry. It was laid upon the coffin, 

 throAvn into the open grave, or carried in the hand at funerals to indicate that 

 the mourners would remember the dead. A sprig was worn to proclaim that 

 the wearer had repented. Queen Bess adorned the walls of Hampton Court 

 with rosemary. It was always found in the woman's department of the gardens 

 of the high-born, and there was an English proverb, that " rosemary grows 

 where the mistress is master." We have not space to relate half of what has 

 been said of this little shrub. It is highly aromatic in all its parts. The 

 flowers are distilled to procure the oil of rosemary, which is an ingredient 

 in the perfumery of Hungary water and eau de cologne ; it is used also to 

 flavor spirits and liqueurs. It is used in making the well-known soap lini- 

 ment, and the compound spirits of lavender. It is an ingredient in the manu- 

 facture of nearly all perfumery and of toilet soaps. The pulverized leaves are 

 used for snuff. 



NEPETA, L. Calyx cylindrical, marked with 15 striae or nerves, 

 5-toothed, generally oblique, barely 2-lipped; corolla slender below, 

 swollen in the throat, upper lip emarginate, lower 

 one spreading, 3-lobed, middle lobe largest, crenate, 

 marked with crimson dots, margin turned over; 

 stamens 4, ascending under the upper lip, near to- 

 gether. Perennial or annual herb. Leaves some- 

 times lobed or incised. 



A large genus ; some of the species are cultivated 

 for ornamental purposes. 



N. cataria. L. (Catnip or catmint.) Stem square, 3 

 feet liigh, branched ; whole plant hoary. Leaves cordate, 

 coarsely crenate-toothed and petioled. Flowers crowded, 

 in large, hoary spikes, whorled, Avhite or purplish. July 

 Nepeta catakia to September. 



(Catnip). Geography. —The home of the Nepeta Cataria is Europe 



and western Asia. It is found throughout the countries of 



the Levant. It was brought to North America by European settlers, from 



whose gardens it has escaped, and is found growing freely about dwellings 



and by the roadsides without cultivation. 



Etymology. — Nepeta, the generic name of this plant, is said to have been 

 given to it because it was first brought to the notice of naturalists at Nepet, a 

 town in Tuscany. It is also claimed to be due to the fact that it cures the 

 bite of the nepa, a scorpion. Cataria, the specific name, arises from the fact 

 that cats delight in it, take it for medicine, and roll upon it when opportunity 

 offers. Catnep or catnip, the popular name, was given for the reason that 

 cats bite it or nip it. 



