The Betony 



thought him of Betony leaves for the making of 

 snuff. He dried and powdered them and sold the 

 powder as a cure for nervous headaches. The use 

 of this snuff produced violent sneezing — probably 

 the hairs which had covered the leaves were respon- 

 sible for this. Anyway, Betony snuff had a con- 

 siderable reputation for a while. Betony tea, too, 

 is a cottage remedy ; drunk early in the morning 

 it is supposed to cure headache. The mere smell 

 of it — ^hke the sight of the dentist's door — is suffi- 

 cient to chase away all pain in certain neurotic folk. 



At the top of the stem are the purple-red, two- 

 lipped flowers arranged in dense rings which together 

 form short spikes. Then there is a break and a 

 piece of bare stem with two or four leaves, and then 

 more flowers. They are distinctly more showy and 

 brighter than the spikes of the purple dead nettle. 



Our picture clearly depicts the form of the 



flower. Its cup or calyx is crowned by five sharp 



points, each representing a sepal. The corolla is 



a long tube, which ends in the usual two lips— 

 60 73 



