


PLANTS GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 267 
others. Stamens: four; the anther-cells approach and form a little cross. P7s- 
til : one; style, two-lobed. Leaves: opposite; on petioles ; roundish kidney- 
shaped; smooth. Stem : creeping; trailing. 
This is the little plant that the English love so dearly and 
which blooms abundantly in the pasturage every springtime. 
We have hardly the same fondness for it here and rather resent 
the calm manner in which it has taken possession of the soil, 
especially where it is most distasteful to cattle. It is allied to 
our catnep, also a European plant, and was formerly much used 
as a medicine. 
We are frequently amused to watch the growth and self 
satisfaction of many European plants that establish themselves 
in this country and sometimes exterminate those native to the 
soil. What advantage have they, we naturally ask, that makes 
them triumphant in the survival of the fittest? Very probably 
it is because they leave their destroying insects on the other 
side of the water. If this is so we cannot but sympathise with 
them in their attempt to flee from persecution. 
AMERICAN PENNYROYAL. 
Hedeoma pulegitoides. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Mint. Purplish blue. Strongly scented. New England south- Midsummer. 
ward and westward. 
Flowers: small; axillary; whorled. Calyx: two-lipped. Corolla: two- 
lipped; the upper lip erect and notched, the lower lip three-lobed. Stamens : 
two. /zstil; one; style, two-lobed. Leaves: opposite; on petioles; ovate; 
pungent to the taste. Stem; low; erect: branching ; square; hairy. 
A place that is remembered in connection with this well- 
known little plant is a teeing ground of a golf course in a high 
upland meadow in Dutchess county. There, bordering the 
hard-packed square of dirt, it grows in great profusion and 
can be scented from a considerable distance. We can well be- 
lieve in its medicinal properties ; for even to nibble at the leaves 
on a warm day is refreshing. It is closely allied to Mentha 
Pulegium, the true pennyroyal of Europe. 

