MANUAL OP THE APIARY. 



291 



DESCRIPTION OP THE PLANT. 



The stalk is square (Fig. 114), branching, and when culti- 

 ■vated, attains a height of some four feet ; though, as it grows in 

 waste places, it is seldom more than three feet. The branches, 

 and also the leaves, are opposite (Figs. 114 and 115), and in 

 the axiles of the latter are whorls of blossoms (Figs. 115 

 and 116), which succeed each other from below to the top of 

 the branching stems. The corolla is like that of all the 

 mints, while the calyx has five teeth, which are sharp and 



Fig. 116. 



spine-like in the nutlets as they appear at the base of the 

 leaves (Fig. 115). As they near the top, the whorls of blos- 

 soms and succeeding seeds are successively nearer together, 

 and finally become very crowded at the apex (Fig. 116). The 

 leaves are long and palmately lobed (Fig. 115). The small 

 blossom is purple. 



