MINT FAMILY. 243 



L. niyea, from Brazil, has the plcasan(>scented flowers white and unchane- 

 mg; or, m var. mutabilis, changing to bluish. 



L. involuer^ta, of West Indies, has small obovate and prominently veinv 

 leaves, more or less downy beneath, and heads of lilac-purple flowers, involncrate 

 by the outer bracts. 



L. Sellowi^na, of Southern Brazil, is low and spreading, with wedee- 

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

 purple flowers lengthening somewhat with age. 



6. CAI.LICABFA. {Vrom Greek {ot beautiful fruit.) Fl. early summer. 

 C. Amerieina, French MnLSEKRY. Rich soil from Virginia S. : shrub 

 3°-S° 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. VITEX, CHASTE-TKEE. (The ancient Latin name.) 



V. Agnus-C^tus, 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. iuclsa, of Northern China, barely hardy in gardens N., has 5 - 7 leaflets 

 lanceolate and cu^pinnatifid, and the clusters of bluish flowers peduncled. 



79. LABIAT.ffi, MINT FAMILY. 



Chiefly herbs, with aromatic herbage, square steins, 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 lowe^ 

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

 usually in cymose clusters, or running into terminal racemes or 

 spikes. 



i 1. Stamens 4, parallel and ascending, and projecting from a notch on the uj^er 

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

 side near the base. 



* LtAes of the corolla nearly equal and oblong, turned forward so that there seems 

 to be no upper lip, the filaments conspicuously pry ecting 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. TEICHOSTEMA. Calyx 5-eleft in 2 lips, oblique. Filaments very long and 



slender, curved, coiled up in the bud. 

 » * Lobes of the corolla equally spi'eading : filaments slightly projecting from the 

 notch between the 2 upper lubes. 



3. ISANTHUS. Calyx bell-shaped, equally 5-lobed, enlarging after flowering. 



Corolla only little longer than the calyx, bell-shaped, with 6 equal spreadmg 

 lobes. 



^ 2. Stamens 4, reclining on the lower lobe of the corolla, the outer or lower pair 

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

 tmooth or smoothish, fixed by their base, as in all the following divisions. 



4. OCIMUM. Calyx deflexed in fruit, 5-toothed, the upper tooth or lobe much 



broadest and sometimes wing-margined. Corolla short, 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. 



