MINT FAMILY. 249 



16. ORIGANTJM, MAEJORAM. (Old Greek name, said to mean rfeZt^At 

 of mountains.) Natives of the Old World : sweet-herbs : fl. summer. 21 

 O. vulg&re. Wild- Marjoram. Old gardens, and wild on some road- 

 sides ; l°-2° high, with small ovate nearly entire leaves, on short petioles, and, 

 purplish flowers in corymbed purple-bracted clusters or short spikes ; calyx 

 equally 5-toothed. 



O. Major^na, Sweet Marjoram. Cult, in kitchen-gardens (as an ®) ; 

 leaves small and finely soft-downy ; the bracts not colored ; flowers whitish or 

 purplish, with calyx hardly toothed but cleft nearly down on the lower side. 



17. THYMUS, THYME. (Ancient Greek and Latin name.) Low or 

 creeping slightly woody-stemmed sweet-aromatic plants of the Old World: 

 fl. small, in summer. Leaves in the common species entire, small, from 4' 

 to near j' long, ovate, ohovate or oblong with tapering base. 2/ 



T. Serp^Uum, Creeping Thyme. Cult, as a sweet herb, rarely a little 

 spontaneous ; creeping, forming broad flat perennial turfs ; leaves green ; 

 whorls of puTplish or flesh-colored flowers crowded or somewhat spiked at the 

 ends of the flowering branches. 



T. vulgaris, Common Thyme. Rarely cult., more upright and bushy 

 than the other, pale and rather hoary ; flowers in shorter clusters. 



18. SATUBBIA, SAVORY. (The ancient Latin name.) Aromatic : 

 fl. summer. 



S. hort^USiS, Summer Savory. Low and homely sweet herb of the gar- 

 dens, sparingly run wild W., with oblong-linear leaves tapering at base, and 

 pale or purplish small flowers clustered in their axils, or running into panicled 

 spikes at the end of the branches. ® 



19. CALAMiNTHA, CALAMINTH. (Greek for beautiful Mint.) ^ ¥1 

 summer, y. 



§ 1 . Flowers loose in the axils, or above running into racemes or panicles. 



C. glabella. A delicate native but uncommon species, only from Niagara 

 Falls W. : smooth, with weak stems 5' -20' long, also with creeping runners, 

 oblong or almost linear leaves, or ovate on the runners, the loose purplish flow- 

 ers about i' long. 



C. N^peta, Basil-Thyme. Nat. from Eu. from Virginia S. : soft-downy; 

 branching, l°-2° high, with round-ovate crenate leaves, small and loose purple 

 flowers, and calyx hairy in the throat. 



§ 2. Flowers in terminal heads or head-like whorls, crowded with awl-shaped bracts. 



C. Clinopbdium, Basil. Waste grounds and along, thickets ; hairy, 

 with rather simple stems 1° - 2° long, ovate and nearly entire petioled leaves, 

 and pale purple small corollas. 



20. MELISSA, BALM, BEE-BALM. (Old name from Greek for iee.) 

 Old- World sweet herbs. Fl. summer. % 



M. oflaeinaiiS, Common B. Gardens, sparingly running wild ; rather 

 hairy, loosely-branched, lemon-scented, with ovate or scarcely heart-shaped cre- 

 nate-toothed leaves, and yellowish or soon white flowers in. small loose axillary 

 clusters. 



21. SALVIA, SAGE. (From the Latin salvo^ to save, from its reputed 

 healing qualities. ) 



§ 1. Wild SagScs oftf^ country, all un'th blue or partly white corollas, y. 



« Upper lip of calyx 3-toothed: tower cell of the anther present but deformed. 



8. lyrita. Sandy soil from New Jersey to III. & S. : 1° - 2° high, rather 



hairy, with leaves mostly at the root and ohovate or lyre-shaped, and a smaller 



pair on the stem ; whorls of flowers forming an interrupted raceme ; corolla 



hardly 1' long. 



