MINT FAMILY. 243 



' Ii. nivea, from Brazil, has the pleasant-scented flowers white and unchang- 

 ing; or, in var. mutaeilis, changing to bluish. 



L. involucr&ta, of West Inddes, has small obovate and prominently veiny 

 leaves, more or less downy beneath, and heiads of lilac-purple flowers, involucrate 

 by the outer bracts. 



L. Sellowi^ua, of Southern Brazil, is low and spreading, with wedge- 

 oblong or ovate strongly veined leaves, long peduncles, and heads of reddish- 

 purple flowers lengthening somewhat with age. 



5. CAIiIiICARFA. (From Greek for heautifid fruit.) M. early summer. 



C. Americana, French Mulberry. Rich soil from Virginia S. : shrub 

 3° - 8° high, with some scurfy down, especially on the lower face of the ovate- 

 oblong toothed leaves, and the clusters of bluish flowers ; fruits violet-blue and 

 showy. 



6. VITBX, CHASTE-TREE. (The ancient Latin name.) 



v. Agnus-C&stus, Chaste-tree, of Mediterranean region, has 5-7 lan- 

 ceolate entire leaflets whitened underneath, and bluish flowers in sessile clusters 

 forming an interrupted spike at the end of the branches ; hardy only S. 



V. indsa, of Northern China, barely hardy in gardens N., has 5-7 leaflets 

 lanceolate and cut-pinnatifid, and the clusters of bluish flowers peduncled. 



79. LABIATiE, MINT FAMILY. 



Chiefly herbs, with aromatic herbage, square stems, opposite 

 simple leaves, more or less 2-lipped corolla (whence the name of 

 the order), either 4 didynamous or only 2 stamens, 2-lobed stigma, 

 and at once distinguished from all the related families by the deeply 

 4-parted ovary (as if 4 ovaries around the base of a common style), 

 ripening into as many seed-like nutlets, or akenes, each containing 

 a single seed. Embryo usually filling the seed. As in all these 

 families, there are 2 lobes belonging to the upper and 3 to the lower 

 lip of the corolla. Flowers from the axils of the leaves or bracts, 

 usually in cymose clusters, or running into terminal racemes or 

 spikes. 



§ 1. Stamens 4, parallel and ascending, and projecting from a notch on the upper 

 side of the corolla. Nutlets reticulated and pitted, obliquely fixed by the inner 

 side near the base. 



» Lobes of the corolla nearly equal and oblong, turned formard so that there seems 

 to be no upper lip, the filaments conspicuously projecting from the upper side. 



1. TEUCRIUM. Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla with a deep cleft between the two 



upper lobes. Cells of the anther confluent. 



2. TKICHOSTEMA. Calyx 5-cleft in 2 lips, oblique. Filaments very long and 



slender, curved, coiled up in the bud. 

 « » Lobes of the corolla equcdly spreading : filaments slightly projecting from the 



notch between the 2 upper lubes. 

 8. ISANTHUS. Calyx bell-shaped, equally B-lobed, enlarging after flowering. 

 Corolla only little longer than the calyx, beU-shaped, with 5 equal spreading 

 lobes. 



§ 2. Stamens i, reclining on the lower lobe of the corolla, the outer or lower pair 



longer : anthers 2-celled. Corolla usually turned down or declining. Nutlets 



smooth or smoothish, fixed by their base, as in aU the following divisions. 



i. OCIMUM. Calyx deflexed in fruit, B-toothed, the upper tooth or lobe much 



broadest and sometimes wing-margined. Corolla snort, the upper lip as it 



were of 4 lobes, the lower of one entire flat or flattish declined lobe scarcely 



longer than the upper. Filaments separate. 



