834 TEUCRIUM. CCLASS IV. ORDER I. 



against pestilental disease, and as a remedy against all kinds of ob- 

 structions, &c., but it is now justly fallen into disuse. 



3. T. Cham<xdrys, Linn. (Fig. 965.) Wall Germander. Stem 

 ascending ; leaves ovale, tapering into a footstalk, deeply serrated or 

 cut ; flowers racemose, in whorls of six flowers each. 



English Botany, I. 680. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 70. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 229. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 198. 



Root of branched fibres, with creeping suckers. Stem ascending, 

 almost round, hairy, mostly much branched. Leaves numerous, 

 ovate, obtuse, tapering at the base into a footstalk, deeply serrated, 

 and often cut, downy, paler beneath, with a prominent mid-rib and 

 branched veins, the upper or floral leaves small, wedge-shaped. 

 Inflorescence axillary whorls of about six flowers, in terminal and 

 lateral racemes. Calyx campanulate, on short stalks, hairy, ribbed, 

 the teeth nearly equal, lanceolate, scattered over with small globose 

 glands, often purplish. Corolla pale purplish pink, downy, the tube 

 about as long as the calyx, the upper lip of two linear downy remote 

 teeth, the lower lip spreading, the lateral lobes ovate, acute, the middle 

 one broad, roundish, sometimes notched or crenated. Stamens pro- 

 truded, {\ie filaments recurved. Anthers roundish, two celled. Seeds 

 kidney-shaped, dark brown, rugose. 



Habitat. — Borders of fields and old ruins or moist walls, but a 

 doubtful native. Winchilsea Castle, Sussex; Gateshead, Durham; 

 City Walls of Norwich, plentiful ; near Forfar and Kelly-Angus ; 

 Methvin Wood, Perthshire, Scotland ; near Cork, Ireland. — Mr. 

 Drummond. 



Perennial; flowering in July. 



The whole plant has a very bitter somewhat aromatic taste, and was 

 formerly held in high estimation as a most valuable medicine in the 

 cure of rheumatism, gout, and intermittent fevers, and it is reported 

 to have cured Charles V. of the gout, in the form of a vinous infusion ; 

 how far, howevei", the effect of the medicine may have contributed to 

 the recovery of his Majesty, will be somewhat doubted by many 

 persons, for the same report tells us that he took it for sixty successive 

 days before he was cured. Time and perseverance certainly work won- 

 ders with some people; but we do not now-a-days find such patience 

 exercised by persons labouring under paroxysms of gout, or a willing- 

 ness to place faith in the efficacy of a medicine for so long a time. The 

 dried and powdered leaves formed an ingredient in the celebrated 

 Portland Powder. It was formerly much cultivated in gardens, and 

 probably from thence has escaped and become a naturalized plant. 

 It was known to the herbalists by the name of Ground-oak and Ger- 

 mander. It is a common plant in most parts of the Continent in 

 dry sandy ground or amongst ruins. 



