Origanum.'\ 



LXIII. LABIAT-^. 



321 



Wet commons and margins of brooks ; England and S. of Ireland. 



The smallest 





8, 9. 



Rare in Scotland and scarcely indigenous. 

 of the genus, readily known by its prostrate stems, and small, fre« 

 quently^recurved leavesy both of which are thickly covered with short 

 hairs, and especially by the hairy throat of the calyx. Smell power- 

 ful. Much used medicinally. 



L 



Tribe IL Satureine^. Corolla two-lipped^ the tube ahoitt ns 

 long as the calyx; lips nearly equal in length, upper one nearly 

 plane. Stam. diverging, nearly equal, protruded. (Gen. 4, 5.) 



4. Thymus Linn. Thyme. 



13 ribs, tubular, 



Flowers whorled or capitate. Cah with 10 

 2-lipped ; upper Up 3-toothed, lower one bifid ; the throat liairy. 

 Cor, with the upper lip erect, nearly plane; lower patent and 

 trifid. Stamens diverging. Anther-cells at first nearly parallel, 

 afterwards diverging ; connectimim sub triangular. — Name : 

 ^u/toc, strength ; from its balsamic odour strengthening the 

 animal spirits. 



1. T. Serpijltmn L. (wild T.); flowers whorled and capitate, 

 stems branched decumbent, leaves plane oblong or ovate obtuse 

 entire petiolate more or less ciliated at the base, floral leaves^ 

 similar, teeth of the upper lip of the calyx ovate-lanceolate of 

 the lower subulate ciliated, upper lip of the corolla notched 

 more or less ovate. E. B. 1. 1514.— «. stems prostrate creeping, 



p. 



flowering shoots ascending, upper lip of the cor. oblong. 

 stems and flowering shoots difl'use ascending, upper lip of the 

 cor. semicircular. T. Chamaidrys Fries. 



Hills and dry pastures, abundant. IJL. 6— 8. —Variable in size, 



and in the hairiness and scent of its foliage, which is sometimes all 



over hoary, and smells like lemon. Flowers purple. Mr. Bentham, 



the best authority for what is a species among the Labiatas, unites 



T. Chamadrys of Fries to T, Serpyllum, characterising it as a variety 



by the larger and less rigid leaves. Mr. Babington separates it on 



account of its having a different habit :— the above characters of our 



varieties are intended to indicate the chief specific diflerences upon 



which he rests ; he adds that in T. Serpyllum the achenes are " globose, 



mealy, with a basal scar," and in T. ChamcBdrys, " roundish, a little 



compressed, with a basal apiculus, reddish." 



[The other Linn^x.-^n species of Thymus are referred to Calamintha.] 



5. ORiGANUfti Linn. Marjoram. 



Spikes (or heads) of flowers somewhat 4-sided, resemblingf a 

 catkin, imbricated with bracteas. Cal. equally 5 -toothed (or 

 2-lipped). Cor. with the upper Up erect, nearly plane; lower 

 one patent, trifid. Stamens diverging, covnectivum subtriangular. 

 — Name: opoc, a hill, and ynvoc^joy; from the dry hilly places 

 of which the species are the ornament.. 



P 5 



