LABIATiE. (MINT FAMILY.) .",.",.", 



25. BEUNELLA, Tourn. (Prunella, L.) Self-heal. 



Calyx tubular-bell-shaped, somewhat 10-nerved and reticulated-veiny, ilar- 

 tened on the upper side, naked in the throat, closed in fruit, 2-lipped; the up- 

 per lip broad and flat, truncate, with 3 short teeth ; the lower 2-cleft. Corolla 

 ascending, slightly contracted at the throat, and dilated at the lower side jnst 

 beneath it, 2-lipped ; the upper lip erect, arched, entire; the lower reflexed- 

 spreading, 3-cleft ; its lateral lobes oblong- ; the middle one rounded, concave, 

 crenulate. Stamens 4, ascending under the upper lip : filaments 2-toothed at 

 the apex, the lower tooth bearing the anther. Anthers approximate in pairs, 

 their cells diverging. — Low perennials, with nearly simple stems, and 3-flow- 

 ered clusters of flowers sessile in the axils of round and bract-like membrana- 

 ceous floral leaves, imbricated in a close spike or head. (Name said to be taken 

 from the German braune, a disease of the throat, for which this plant was a 

 reputed remedy. 



2. B. vulgaris, L. (Common Self-heal or Heal-all.) Leaves ovate- 

 oblong, entire or toothed, petioled, hairy or smoothish ; corolla (violet or flesh- 

 color, rarely white) not twice the length of the purplish calyx. — Woods and 

 fields: common. June -Sept. (Eu.) 



26. SCUTELLARIA, L. Skullcap. 



Calyx hell-shaped in flower, 2-lipped ; the lips entire, closed in fruit, the upper 

 with a helmet-like at length concave and enlarged appendage on the back (the 

 upper sepal) ; calyx splitting to the base at maturity, the upper lip usually fall- 

 ing away. Corolla with an elongated curved ascending tube, dilated at the 

 throat, 2-lipped ; the upper lip arched, entire or barely notched ; the lateral 

 lobes mostly connected with the upper rather than the lower lip ; the lower lobe 

 or lip spreading and convex, notched at the apex. Stamens 4, ascending under 

 the upper lip : anthers approximate in pairs, ciliate or bearded ; those of the 

 lower stamens 1 -celled (halved), of the upper 2-celled and heart-shaped. — Bit- 

 ter perennial herbs, not aromatic, with axillary or else spiked or racemed flow- 

 ers ; in summer: the short peduncles or pedicels chiefly opposite, 1 -flowered, 

 often 1-sided. (Name from scutella, a dish, in allusion to the form of the ap- 

 pendage to the fruiting calyx.) 



* Flowers (blue) in terminal (single or panicled) racemes ; the floral leaves, except the 



lower ones, being small, and reduced to bracts. 

 •*- Lips short, nearly equal in length, the lateral lobes rather distinct, and almost as 

 long as the straightish or scarcely incurved upper lip : leaves on slender petioles. 

 1. S. versicolor, Nutt. Soft, hairy, the hairs of the inflorescence, &c. 

 partly viscid-glandular; stem mostly erect (l°-3° high) ; leaves ovate or round- 

 ovate, chiefly heart-shaped, crenate-toothed, very veiny, rugose, the floral reduced 

 to broadly ovate entire bracts about equalling the glandular-hairy calyx ; ra- 

 cemes mostly simple. — River-banks, &c, Penn. to Wisconsin and southward. 

 — Corolla 9" long, with a slender tube, below whitish, the lower lip purple- 

 spotted ; the upper deep blue ; the lateral lobes belonging as much to the lower 

 as to the upper lip. — S. saxatilis, var. ? pilosior, Benth., is probably a smaller 



