324 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 



or smooth; leaves shortly petioled or sessile, oblong-ovate or lanceolate, serrate; 

 flowers in axillary capitate whorls; bracts acnte, shorter than the flowers; calyx 

 hairy, teeth triangular or lanceolate; corolla hairy without and within, subequally 

 4-lobed; stamens 4; stigma bifid, style branches short. 



Cultivated in Guam, often grown in pots. It is used for making mint juleps. 

 References: 



Mentha arvensis L. Sp. PI. 2: 577. 1753. 

 Menthaceae. Mint family. 



This family is represented in Guam by the genera Coleus, Mentha, Mesosphaerutn, 

 and Ocimum. The author of the name Menthaceae, which is here published for 

 the first time, is Prof. Lester F. Ward, who has presented the following statement 

 regarding it: 



"Permit me to propose the name Menthaceae for the mint family as the most suit- 

 able substitute for the name Labiatae, given it by Bernard Jussieu in Hort. Trianon, 

 1759, and used by most botanists since that date, but which has not the proper ter- 

 mination and is not formed from the name of any genus of the family. Being based 

 on Mentha, the most typical genus of the family, it has better claims, except in the 

 matter of priority, than Lamiaceae (Lindley, 1836), Nepetaceae (Horaninow, 1843), 

 or Salviaceae (Drude, 1879)." 

 Mesosphaerum capitatum. 

 Family Menthaceae. 



Local names. — Batunes (Guam) ; Marrubio-boton (Porto Rico); San Diego cim- 

 arron (Cuba). 

 A stout glabrescent weed growing to a height of 1.5 to 2 meters; leaves petioled, 

 ovate-oblong, pointed, unequally and coarsely serrate; floral leaves oblong-linear, at 

 length reflexed, shorter than the head; flowers sessile, ^capitate; heads globose, axil- 

 lary, shorter than their peduncles; calyx equally 5-toothed, teeth awl-shaped, 

 bristle-tipped, erect at length one-third as long as the tube; corolla 2-lipped, inferior 

 lobe deflexed; stamens 4, deflexed; leaves 5 to 13 cm. long, peduncles 2.5 to 5 cm. 

 long; heads in fruit 20 to 25 mm. in diameter; nutlets devoid of a concave margin. 

 A weed of American origin, widely spread through the Tropics. 

 References: 

 Mesosphaerum capitatum (Jacq.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 2: 525. 1891. 

 Hyptis capitata Jacq. Coll. 1 : 102. 1786. 

 Mesosphaerum pectinatum. 



Local names. — Alhucema (Cuba). 

 Slender, wand-like, puberulous or glabrescent; leaves petioled, ovate, unequally 

 erenate-serrate (or serrate), hoary-pubescent beneath or glabrescent; floral leaves 

 bristle-like; flowers in one-sided, contracted, short, arched, recurved cymes; cymes 

 racemose or paniculate; calyx shortly pedicellate, 10-striate, subequal; tubp shortly 

 campanulate, densely villous at the truncate throat; teeth bristle-like, shorter than 

 the tube, suberect. 



A tropical weed; collected in Guam by Lesson and Gaudichaud. 

 References: 



Mesosphaerum pectinatum (L. ) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 2: 525. 1891. 

 Nepcta pectinata L. Syst. ed. 10. 1099. 1759. 

 Hyptis pectinata Poit. Ann. Mus. Par. 7: 474. t. SO. 1806. 

 Mexican creeper. See Antigonon leptopus. 

 Mexican tea. See Chenopodium ambrosioides. 

 Mignonette tree (British West Indies). See Lawsonia inermis. 

 Mil-leguas (Guam, Philippines). See Telosma odoratissima. 

 Milkweed, Curasao. See Asclepias curassavica. 



