N. 0. VERBENACE/E. 987 



minute, 2-fid, hairy. Corolla-tube cylindric, slender, mouth 2-lipp- 

 ed, lower lip rather longer, pinkish-purple to white (C B. Clarke). 

 Filaments and style very short. Fruit hardly x? in > diam., nearly 

 dry. 



" Flowers all the year round, very pale violet-pink " (Trimen) 

 " Stamens unequal pair, included. Ovary 2-celled, stigma 

 capitate separating into two 1-seeded nutlets (Collett). 



Uses : — The plant is officinal, and considered cooling. The 

 tender stalks and leaves are slightly bitter, and prescribed in 

 the form of an infusion to children suffering from indigestion, 

 and to women after delivery. (Ainslie). It is used in Bombay 

 as a demulcent in cases of gonorrhoea. A poultice composed 

 of the fresh plant is a good maturant for boils. (Dymock. 

 Honnigberger considered it valuable in ischury, stoppage of 

 the bowels and pain in the knee-joint. In Mexico the leaves of 

 several species of Lippia, called ' oregano' are very much used 

 to flavour food. It is cooked with fish, sausage and other food. 



946. Verbena officinalis, Limi., h.f.b.l, iv. 565. 

 Vern. :— Pamukh, karaita (Pb.) ; Shamuki (Pushtu). 

 Hahitat : — Himalaya from Kashmir to Bhotan. Bengal Plain 

 to the Sunderbunds. 



An erect, more or less pubescent, perennial herb. Stems l-3ft. 

 high, decumbent at the base, branched 4-sided puberulous. 

 Leaves 2-1 in. long, variously lobed, narrowed to the base , 

 lower ones stalked, pinnatified or coarsely toothed, more or less 

 pubescent and usually hoary on the nerves beneath ; upper 

 sessile, usually 3-partite. Flowers \ in. long, sessile in dense 

 bracteate heads which elongate as the fruit ripens into slender 

 spikes up to 10 in. long ; bracts ovate, acute. Calyx twice as 

 long as the bracts and half as long as the corolla-tube, minutely 

 5-toothed, glandular-hairy. Corolla blue or lilac, hairy ; limb 

 spreading, about | in, diam., lobes subquadrate, throat hairy. 

 Fruit dry, ultimately separating into 4 one-seeded nutlets 

 pyrenes 3-ribbed iV^im, oblong, smooth dorsally, their under 

 faces with minute white flaking cells. 



Uses : — The fresh leaves are used as febrifuge and tonic, 

 and as rubefacient in rheumatism and diseases of the ioints ; 



