LABIATAE 



MINT FAMILY 



GROUND IVY 



Nepcia liederacca (L.) Trevisan 



This plant is easily cultivated and sometimes used for 

 ground cover in cemeteries, but it readily crowds out lawn grass 

 and so may become a weed. Formerly it was much used in 

 medicine but imlike Catnip 

 has a rather peculiar and 

 slightly disagreeable odor 

 and bitter taste. Most 

 animals avoid eating it. 



The Ground Ivy, also 

 called Gill over the Ground, 

 often forms dense mats in 

 damp or partly shaded places. 

 Introduced into this country 

 from Europe, it has spread 

 from Newfoundland to Ore- 

 gon and south from Georgia 

 to Colorado, and is not likely 

 to be found near towns. 



The 4-angled stems, often 

 1 8 inches long, are creeping 

 and trailing, and frequently 

 root at the joints. The 

 branches are ascending. The 

 leaves are nearly evergreen, 

 petioledj round- kidney 

 shaped, palmately veined and 



bordered with fairly large rounded teeth. Lower petioles are 

 commonly longer than the leaves. 



The light blue flowers are few in axillary clusters from May 

 to July. The tubular calyx is 15-nerved and instead of being 1- 

 lipped is somewhat unequally ^^-toothed. The corolla is about 3 

 times as long as the calyx and distinctly 2-lipped. Its upper lip 

 is erect and notched, and the lower is spreading and 3-lobed. The 

 lower middle lobe is broad and notched and the 2 lateral lobes are 

 small. The upper pair of stamens, all of which bear diverging 

 anther sacs, is much longer than the lower. The ovary is deeply 

 4-parted and produces in fruit 4 smooth, ovoid secdlike nutlets. 



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