514 



ORl>EE CXXII LABIAtite. 



Flowers hermaphodite, usually irregular, calyx free, persist-' 

 ent, 5-(rarely 4-) merous, monosepalous : corolla monopetalous, 

 hypogynous, deciduous, 5-merous, or through the union of the 

 upper lobes, 4-merous, irregular : sestivation bilabiately imbri- 

 cate, the upper lip exterior, middle lobe of the lower inmost 

 lateral ones intermediate : stamens inserted on the corolla, al- 

 ternate with its lobes, the upper one, and sometimes even the 

 upper or lateral pair aborting or altogether wanting : anthers 

 various: ovary free, seated on a gynophore or thick disk, 4- 

 parted or rarely 4-cleft, lobes erect, attached transversely, or 

 obliquely by the' interior side towards the base : style central, 

 erect, between the lobes, usually bifid at the apex, the divisions 

 anterior and posterior : ovules solitary in each lobe of the 

 ovary, erect, anatropous : fruit conformable to the ovaryj 

 sometimes by abortion 3 or 1-lobed, with one erect seed in 

 each : testa thin : albumen sparing or wanting : embryo straight 

 or rarely (in Scutellaria,) incurved with the seed : radicle short 

 next the hilum : cotyledons fleshy, parallel to the axis of the 

 fruit. — Herbs or undershrubs or shrubs with opposite or 

 vrhorld 4-sided branches : leaves opposite or whorld, exstipulate, 

 entire or divided, reticulately penninerved : leaves and calyx 

 in many, and in some the stems and corolla, covered with glo- 

 bose glands, filled with fragrant very aromatic essential oil: 

 inflorescence (called a thyrsus) formed of axillary, opposite, 

 centrifugal flowering cymes, with a terminal flower, the rest 

 unilateral on the branches : bracts two, opposite, under the 

 branches of the cymes, with solitary ones opposite the flowers 

 on the branches : cymes heteromorphouSj namely, 1st, normally 

 loose, ramose, many-flowered, with the flowers unilateral along 

 the branches : 2nd, condensed on the apex of a common pe- 

 duncle, and then called capitate : 3rd: condensed into 2 op- 

 posite sessile fascicles, forming a false verticil or verticillaatet, 



