250 



CLASSIFICATION 



The Order is closely allied to LabiatcB in the struc- 

 ture of the corolla and stamens, but differs from the 

 latter by 2-celled unlobed or undivided ovary, ter- 

 minal style, capsular many-seeded fruit, and bracteated 

 inflorescence. 



Nat. Order 22. Labiatce. — Herbs, often aromatic. 

 Stems usually square. Leaves opposite of whorled. 

 Flowers irregular, often bilabiate, solitary, or in fas- 

 cicled axillary cymes. Sepals, petals, and stamens as 

 in Acanthacece. Carpels 2, superior, connate in a 4- 

 celled 4-lobed ovary ; style simple, gynobasic ; ovules 

 3) I in each cell. Fruit 



concealed at the bot- 

 tom ofthecup-shaped 

 persistent calyx, and 

 splitting into four 



I-SEEDED NUTS Or 



PYRENES. Seeds 



erect, exalbuminous. 

 Chiefly belonging to the north temperate regions. 

 Common plants: tulsi of various kinds belonging 

 to the genus Ocimum; ghal-ghase {Leucas aspera 

 and L. linifolia), common weeds of rice-fields during 

 winter, with white flowers; bhuin-tulsi {Salvia plebejd^ 

 (fig. 216), an annual weed; genus Salvia has two 

 stamens with short filaments attached to a transversely 

 elongated connective, the long upper curved arm of 

 which bears one fertile anther-lobe and the short 

 lower arm bears a barren anther-lobe (distractile), 

 specially adapted for pollination by bees: the elon- 

 gated connective is rocking, and, on being moved by 

 the alighting of a bee, brings the anthers in contact 

 with the back of the bee; guma (Leonurus sibiricus), 

 a tall annual weed with opposite axillary cymose 

 clusters of purple flowers and pinnately-incised leaves. 



Fig. 216. — Bhuin-tulsi {Salvia flchejd) 



