LABIATAE 



MINT FAMILY 



COMMON MOTHERWORT 



Leonurus Cardiaca L. 



This tall perennial herb is an immigrant from Europe which 

 seems to prefer to grow near the habitations of man. Roadsides, 

 spots near buildings and waste places are favorite haunts, from 

 Nova Scotia to North 

 Carolina, west to 

 Montana and Utah. 



The stout, com- 

 monly branched stem 

 grows 2-5 feet high. 

 Leaves are thin and 

 membranous, the 

 lower nearly round, 

 2-4 inches broad and 

 3-5 cleft, whereas the 

 upper are as shown. 



The flowers, too 

 small to be conspicu- 

 ous but really very 

 pretty, are produced 

 in numerous axillary 



clusters from June to September. The calyx is 5-nerved and nearly 

 equally 5-toothed. The teeth are stiflF and sharp like prickles. The 

 decidedly 2-lipped corolla varies from pink to pale purple and 

 has a ring of white woolly hairs on the inside of the tube. The 

 upper lip is slightly concave and densely bearded outside, and 

 the lower is 3-lobed and mottled with dark purple spots. There 

 are 4 stamens in pairs of unequal length. The ovary is deeply 

 4-parted and the style is 2-cleft at the top. The 3-sided nutlets 

 are smooth and within the calyx. 



The Horehound Motherwort or Lion's Tail, Leonurus Marrubias- 

 trum L., is a tall biennial from Europe which has stout stems, leaves 

 much like those of Catnip, page 278, and white, very markedly 

 2-lipped flowers in dense axillary whorls. The calyx is equally 

 5-toothed and hairy, its bristle-shaped, somewhat spreading teeth 

 mostly shorter than the tube. The style is 2-cleft at the summit, 

 the ovary 4-parted and the fruit 4 smooth 3-sided nutlets. This plant 

 is an inhabitant of waste places and flowers from June to September. 



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