44 Botanical Excursion to the Mountains of North Carolina. 



As to the species from which Mr. Bentham derived the generic 

 name, {Pycnanthemum Monardella, Michx.,) I am by no means 

 certain that it belongs either to Pycnanthemum or Monardella. 

 The specimen in the Michauxian herbarium is not out of flower, 

 as has been thought, but the inflorescence is undeveloped, and 

 perhaps in an abnormal state. In examining a small portion 

 taken from the head, I found nothing but striate-nerved bracts, 

 obtuse and villous at the apex, and abruptly awned ; the exterior 

 involucrate and often lobed; the innermost linear, and tipped 

 with a single awn. The aspect of the plant, also, is so like Mo- 

 narda fistiilosa, that I am strongly inclined to think it a some- 

 what monstrous state of that, or some nearly allied species ; in 

 which case, the genus Mojiardella should be restricted to the Cali- 

 fornian species. Pursh's P. Monardella, I may observe, was col- 

 lected beneath the Natural Bridge in Virginia, where we also ob- 

 tained the plant, and subsequently met with it throughout the 

 mountains. It is certainly a form of Monarda fistulosa, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Bentham's characters ; but the taste is much less pun- 

 gent, the throat of the calyx less strongly bearded than is usual 

 in that species, and the corolla nearly white. We thought it 

 probably a distinct species ; but these differences may be ow- 

 ing to the deep shade in which it commonly occurs. The P. 

 Monardella "of Elliott, according to his herbarium, is identical 

 with that of Pnrsh. We collected in Ashe County several other 

 species of Pycnanthemum, and in the endeavor to discriminate 

 them, we encountered so many difficulties that I am induced to 

 give a revision of the whole genus.* 



* Conspectus Pycnanthemorum. 



§1. Calyx vix bilabiatus ;. dentibus bracteisque subulato-aristatis, rigidis, nudis, coroUam 

 mquantihus. Veriicillastri densi plerutnque terminales. Ovaria harbuta. Folig, subpetiolata, 

 rigida. 



1. P. ARiSTATUM {Miclix.) : foliis breviter petiolalis ovato-oblongis acutis subserratis 

 basi rotundatis cauleque tenuissime canesceiiti-tomentosis vel glabris. — P. setosum, NuU. 

 in jour. acad. Philad. 7. p. 100, excl. syn. Pursh. Origanum incanum, Wall. herb. 



Hab. a Nova Caesarea ad Floridam. — Folia floralia nunc candicantia. 



2. P. HYSSOPiFOLiuM {Benth.) -. foliis subsessilibus lineari-oblongis obtusis subinteger- 

 rimis cauleque glabris vel tenuissime subtomentoso-canescentibus. — P. aristatum, Pursh, 

 (fide, spec, in herb. Lamb, et herb. Bart.,) NuU. et Ell. 



Hab. a Virginia usque ad Floridam et Louisianam. — Duas species arete affines optime 

 dignoscuntui- in Benth. Lab. gen. et spec. Stamina e fauce corolla subexserta. 



^2. Calyx bilabiatus ; nempe, dentibus (plerumque subulatis, scspe pilis rigidiusculis bar- 

 hatis,) 3 superioribus in labio superiore basi coalilis. Veriicillastri cymosi, laxi. Ovaria 

 sapius barbati. Folia petiolata. 



