MINT FAMILY. 355 



Mt. Diablo. The var. similis Jepson has a very densely-villous calyx. — Napa 

 Kange. 



2. S. californica Gray. California Skull-cap. Stems clustered, com- 

 monly simple, % to 1^4 ft. high, from horizontal branching rootstocks; herb- 

 age puberulent ; leaves % to 1 in. long, oval-ovate or oblong-lanceolate, the 

 lower disposed to be crenate and purplish beneath, the upper narrower and 

 entire, those subtending the flowers much reduced; petioles 1 to 3 lines long; 

 corolla nearly white or slightly yellowish, 8 to 12 lines long, the throat ampliate- 

 inflated and the lips not very unequal; lower lip villous-bearded within; nutlets 

 rugulose. 



Open woods and borders of thickets, on hillsides and in ravines: Coast 

 Ranges; Sierra Nevada. 



S. lateriflora L. ; well characterized by its small flowers in 1-sided racemes. 

 — Bouldin Island (Zoe, iv, 215). S. galericulata L. ; leaves thin, ovate- 

 lanceolate, 1 to 2 in. long; flowers blue, 7 to 9 lines long, solitary in the leaf 

 axils; lower lip of corolla not villous. — Bouldin Island; northern Sierra 

 Nevada and northward. 



S. bolaxderi Gray and S. angustifolia Pursh are of the Sierra Nevada; 

 the former has oval leaves, little reduced above, sessile by a cordate base and 

 very veiny, and whitish flowers; the latter has linear or lanceolate entire leaves 

 (or the lowermost broader and serrate) and violet-purple flowers, the lower 

 corolla-lobe villous inside. 



3. MARRUBIUM L. Horehound. 



Perennial tomentose herbs with much wrinkled leaves and rather small flow- 

 ers in whorls. Calyx with cylindraceous tube, 10 ribs and as many equal subu- 

 late or spinulose teeth, which are recurved at tip. Corolla white, with short 

 tube included in the calyx, the upper lip erect, 2-cleft, the lower spreading, 

 3-cleft. Stamens 4, included within the tube of the corolla, all the anthers 

 2-celled. Nutlets rounded at the top. (From the Hebrew, meaning bitter.) 



1. M. vulgare L. Common Horehound. Stems tufted, erect, white- 

 woolly, % to 214 ft. high; leaves roundish, crenate, except at the cuneate or 

 truncate base, petioled, white-woolly beneath and green above, or somewhat 

 tomentose on both faces; middle lobe of lower lip of corolla transversely ob- 

 long, much larger than the lateral lobes. 



Common naturalized weed of old fields and waste places about farms and 

 villages everywhere in the Coast Eanges, Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, 

 Sierra Nevada foothills and Southern California. Evergreen with us. The 

 tops used medicinally as a remedy for colds. July-Sept. 



4. NEPETA L. 



Perennial herbs. Calyx tubular, obliquely 5-toothed, the upper teeth longer 

 than the lower. Corolla-tube enlarged above, distinctly bilabiate; upper lip 

 erect, lower spreading, the middle lobe larger than the lateral. Stamens 4, 

 not exserted, ascending under the upper lip, the lower pair the shorter, all 

 anther-bearing, with the anthers approximate in pairs. Nutlets ovoid, flat- 

 tened, smooth. (Old Latin name used by Pliny, perhaps from the city Nepete 

 in Tuscany.) 



1. N. cataria L. Catnip. Stems 2 or 3 ft. high; herbage canescent with 

 fine hairs, except the green upper surface of the leaves; leaves triangular- 

 ovate, truncate or cordate at base, coarsely crenate, 2 or 3 in. long or the upper 

 reduced, greener above than below, petioled; spikes 1 to 3 in. long, dense or with 



