SWEET LAVENDER 



numerous, linear, with revolute margins. Flowers small, blue, 

 two-lipped, axillary in short racemes. It is difficult to explain the 

 esteem in which Rosemary was held during the Middle Ages, unless 

 it was an inheritance from the Roman times, for it is known that 

 the Romans employed Rosemary in their religious ceremonies and 

 burned it as incense in their temples. Sir Thomas More writes: 

 "As for Rosemarine, I lett it runne all over 

 my garden walls, not onlie because my bees 

 love it, but because it is the herb sacred to 

 remembrance, and therefore to friendship; 

 whence a sprig of it hath a dumb lan- 

 guage that maketh it the chosen emblem 

 of our funeral wakes and in our buriall 

 grounds." Ophelia says: "Here's rose- 

 mary for you, that's for remembrance." 



Sweet Lavender, Lavandula vhra, is a 

 little shrub with narrow, oblong, entire 

 leaves, revolute at the margin; the yomiger 

 ones often clustered in the axils of the 

 older. The foliage is grayish-green, abun- 

 dant, and in midsummer surmounted by 

 flowery stems bearing many whorls of small, blue flowers; the 

 whole forming a slender interrupted spike four to six inches 

 long. The pleasant aromatic odor of the leaves has long 

 made it a garden favorite. The plant is one of the sweet 

 herbs native to the Mediterranean region; is extensively culti- 

 vated in southern Europe for its essential oil, which is used 

 in the manufacture of perfumery, aromatic vinegar, and lav- 

 ender water. 



The generic name, Lavendula, from lavo, to wash, refers to the 

 ancient use of its flowers and leaves in bath perfumery. 



Catnip, Nipeta cataria, is a familiar weed by the roadside and 

 in fence comers. A perennial, with leafy and branching stems 

 two to three feet high, bearing heart-shaped, crenate, gray-green 

 leaves. The flowers are small, purplish, two-lipped, crowded in 

 a dense terminal. The entire plant is pleasantly aromatic, and cats 



381 



Sweet Lavender. 

 vSra 



Lavendula 



