MINT FAMILY 



LABIATAE 



FALSE PENNYROYAL 



Isanthus brae hiatus (L.) BSP. 



The False Pennyroyal, only species of this genus in the 

 world, is found in dry sandy or rocky soil from Vermont and 

 western Quebec to Minnesota, south to Georgia and Texas. 



It occurs throughout Illinois. 



This annual herb has square slender 

 stems 6-20 inches high, much branched 

 and covered with very short, some- 

 what sticky hairs. The oblong or 

 elliptic-lanceolate, 3-nerved leaves are 

 1-2 inches long, short petioled, and 

 may be entire as shown or they may 

 have a few sharp teeth. 



The small blue flowers are pro^ 

 duced from July to September and as 

 in most members of the Mint family 

 are pollinated largely by bees. The 

 slender axillary peduncles are 1-3- 

 flowered and are borne on the branches 

 as well as on the main stem. The 

 calyx is broadly bell shaped and has 5 

 nearly equal, sharp-pointed lobes. 

 Four stamens, i pair of which is 

 slightly longer than the other, are 

 inserted in the throat of the corolla. 

 The ovary is deeply 4-lobed but not 

 4-parted as in most Mints. The long 

 slender style is only slightly 2-lobed 

 at the summit. The fruit consists of 

 4 somewhat rough, i -seeded nutlets. 



What small leaf-fingers veined with emerald light 

 Lay on my heart that touch of elfin might? 

 What spirals of sharp perfume do they fiing, 

 To blur my page with swift remembering? 



* * * 



Their coolness brings that ecstacy I knew 



Down by the mint-fringed brook that wandered through 



My mellow meadows set with linden trees 



Loud with the summer jargon of the bees. 



A Breath of Mint — Grace Hazard Coxklin'G 



274 



