MINT FAMILY. 249 



16. OHIGANUM, MARJORAM. (Old Greek name, said to mean rfe/i^A* 

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



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

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

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

 equally 5-toothed. 



O. Majortoa, Sweet Makjobam. 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 i' 

 to ncai- J' long, ovate, obovate or oblong with tapering base. 11 



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

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

 whorls of purplish 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 otlier, pale and rather hoary ; flowers in shorter clusters. 



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

 fl. summer. 



S. hortensis, Summer Savory. Low and homely sweet herb of the gar- 

 dens, sparingly run wild W., with oblonn-'inear leaves tapering at base, and 

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

 spikes at the end of the branches. ® 



19. CALAMI'NTHA, CALAMINTH. (Greek for beautiful Mint.) Fl. 

 summer. ^ 



§ 1. Flowers hose in the axils, or ahove running into racemes or panicles. 



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

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

 ob'ong or almost linear leaves, or ovate on the runners, the loose purplish flow- 

 ers about ^' long. 



C. IN"6peta, Basil-Tmyme. Nat. from Eu. from Virginia S. ; soft-downyi 

 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 lieud-lihe u'horls, crowded with' awl-shaped bracts. 



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

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

 and pale pui-ple small corollas. 



20. MELISSA, BALM, BEE-BALM. (Old name from Greek for 6ee. ) 

 Old- World sweet herbs. Fl. summer, y, 



M. officinalis. Common B. Gardens, sparingly rnnning wild ; j-ather 

 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. SAIiVIA, SAGE. (From the Latin salvo, to save, from its reputed 

 healing qualities.) <, 



§1. Wild Saqv.s of the country, all loith blue or partly white corollas. % 



» Upper Up of calyx 3-toothed: lower cell of the anther present but deformed. 



S. lyra,ta. Sandy' soil from New Jersey to III. & S. : 1° - 2° high, rather 



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



pair on the stem; whorls of flowers forming an inteiTupted raceme; eorollj 



hardly 1' long. 



