2 2 FLOWERS OF FIELD, HILL, AND SWAMP 



lets, I in each of 4 visibly distinct divisions of the ovary, from the 

 centre of which arises the style. The corolla is a tube with 2 lips, 

 each lip, or sometimes the upper one only, divided into lobes. A 

 square-stemmed, herbaceous plant, with the well-known minty 

 odor and the 4-lobed ovary, is quickly relegated to this family. 



Many of the housekeeper's best flavorings — lavender, marjo- 

 ram, thyme, sage, rosemary— belong here, as well as the hore- 

 hound, catnip, pennyroyal, and peppermint which used to hang 

 drying in our grandmothers' attics, the most prized belongings 

 of the home pharmacy. Whether the drugs which have super- 

 seded these simple herb drinks are, on the whole, more condu- 

 cive to long life is a question for life-insurance companies to 

 consider. 



Spearmint makes the mint-sauce used with meats. Its leaves 

 are wrinkled, serrate, short-stemmed or sessile. Flowers small, 

 crowded around the stems in whorls. 



27. Peppermint 



{M. piperita) has leaves broader, darker green, purple- 

 veined, with narrower spikes of flowers. Sometimes the 

 stem is hairy and purplish. Corolla purple, and calyx streaked 

 with purple. 



28. ■Water-mint 



{M. aqudtica) is a somewhat hairy species, with the flow- 

 ers more compactly arranged, tending to heads rather than 

 spikes. " 



29. Wild Mint 



{M. Canadhisis) has more of the pennyroyal than mint 

 odor. 



Leaves, upper ones, lance-shaped. 



30. Mad-dog Skullcap 

 Scuiellaria /aierif/ora. — Family, Mint. Color, light blue. 

 Leaves, ovate, lance-shaped, much toothed, pointed, round at 

 base. Time, summer. 



