28 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



that it has not come under their notice, but it is given by Professor 

 Babington as an Irish plant. 



England, Scotland, Ireland ? Perennial. Summer, Autumn. 



This plant is so extremely like T. eu-Serpjdlum, that it is often difR- 

 cultto distinguish the two from herbarium specimens, although the living 

 plants can be identified readily enough. T. eu-Serpj'llum grows in flakes, 

 with the barren shoots at length forming a fringe on the outside. T. 

 Cliamsedrys grows in a tuft, with the flowering shoots far exceeding 

 the barren ones, as the stem of the preceding year terminates in a 

 flowering and not in a barren shoot. The flowering shoots of T. 

 Chamaedrys are generally much longer, Avith the pubescence confined to 

 2 or 4 strips ; the leaves are generally larger, broader in proportion, 

 and less narrowed at the base ; the inflorescence is less capitate, from the 

 whorls being more numerous and continued further do^\^l the stem ; the 

 flowers are generally larger than T. eu-Serpyllum, and have the upper 

 lip of the corolla shorter and more rounded. The plant varies from 

 subglabrous to densely hairy. 



1 have seen specimens of T. eu-Serpyllum in which the stem of last 

 year appears to produce a flowering shoot at the apex, but it is certainly 

 very rarely the case, and possibly only apparent, i. e. that the bud 

 which ought to have produced a barren shoot has died, and the flower- 

 ing stem may have come from a lateral bud at the very end of the 

 living 2^ortion of the stem of the pre\ious year. If this supposition be 

 correct, the two British forms of thyme should be considered as ver- 

 species, on account of a constant physiological difference, between them. 



Larger Wild Thyme. 



GENUS IV.— O R I G A N U M. Linn. 



Calyx with 10 to 13 stria?, regular, or more or less bilabiate, 5- 

 toothed ; teeth nearly equal. Corolla sub-bilabiate; the upper lip 

 notched ; lower one 3-lobed, with the lobes nearly equal. Stamens 4 ; 

 filaments straight, divergent ; anther-cells at length diverging at the 

 base, not contiguous at the apex. 



Herbs or under-shrubs wdth entire or toothed leaves. Flowers pale 

 purple, lilac, or white, in short sub-cylindrical or 4-sided dense spikes, 

 with the bracts usually coloured. Verticillasters reduced to pairs of 

 flowers. 



The name of this genus is said to be derived from tlpoc (oto«), a mountain, and 

 yavoQ (yanos'), joy, the delight of the mountain. It is the Origaniun of PHny, and 

 (ipiyavov of Theophrastus and Dioscorides. 



