808 CLINOPODIUM. fCLASS XIV. ORDER J. 



more obtuse leaves and serrated margin, the calyx is smaller, more 

 distinctly ribbed, with the lovs-er lip of two short angular awl-shaped 

 teeth, much shorter in proportion to the upper lip than in the last 

 species, and the dense ring of white protruding hairs. 



** Whorls ivith undivided pedicles. 



3. C. Aci'noSf Clairvill. (Fig. 929.) Common Basil Thyme. Whorls 

 of about six flowers, the pedicles simple; stem ascending, branched; 

 leaves small, peliolated, ovate, acute, serrated; calyx swollen at the 

 base, the mouth contracted, and closed when in fruit. 



Thymus Acinos, Linn — English Botany, t. 411. — English Flora, 

 vol. iii. p. 109. — Acinos vulgaris, Pers. — Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. 

 vol. i. p. 23.3. — Melissa Acinos, Benth. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 201. 



Root fibrous. Stem decumbent and spreading, much branched, the 

 branches erect, square, the opposite sides alternately hairy. Leaves 

 small, on slender stalks, ovate, acute, serrated, with a few teeth towards 

 the point, downy, mostly ciliated towards the base, paler beneath the 

 raid-ribs, and veins prominent. Inflorescence axillary whorls of about 

 six flowers, on short simple hairy pedicles. Calyx tubular, much 

 swollen at the base on the under side, ribs prominent, downy, the teeth 

 bristle-shaped, ciliated, nearly equal iu length, the mouth of the tube 

 surrounded with a dense ring of while hairs, and when in fruit the 

 upper part of the calyx is contracted, and the teeth close pressed. 

 Corolla purple, its tube dilated upwards, the lower lip with the middle 

 segments notched. Seeds ovate, pointed at the base. 



Habitat. — Cultivated fields, not unfrequent, especially in a sandy or 

 chalky soil in England, rare in Scotland. 



This is much less aromatic than the other species, and sometimes it 

 is scentless, and the flowers are occasionally white. In poor barren 

 pastures both sheep and oxen will eat this plant, but it does not appear 

 lo be a favourite species of food with them. 



GENUS V. CLINOPO'DIUM— Linn. Wild Basil 



Nat. Ord. Libi&'t^. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Floivers numerous, in whorls, accompanied with linear 

 hracteas, forming a sort of involucre. Calyx tubular, thirteen 

 ribbed, nearly equal at the base, two lipped, the upper three 

 toothed, the lower bifid. Corolla with the upper lip nearly plane, 

 notched, the lower one trifid, the middle lobe notched. — Name 

 xKiVYi, led ; and wouj, ito^oi;, afoot ; from the fancied resemblance 

 to the castor of a bed's foot. 

 1. C. vuVgaris, Linn. (Fig. 930.) Wild Basil. Stem erect, simple, 



downy^ leaves ovate or oblong, unequally serrated, downy ; whorls 



