- Microméria 
MINT FAMILY. Labiatae. 
nate with its lobes; ovary superior, with four lobes, sepa- 
rating when ripe into four, small, smooth, one-seeded 
nutlets, surrounding the base of the two-lobed style, like 
the four nutlets of the Borage Family, but the flowers of the 
- latter are regular. These plants are used medicinally and 
include many herbs used for seasoning, such as Sage, 
Thyme, etc. 
There are a few kinds of Micromeria; trailing perennials; 
flowers small; calyx tubular, with five teeth; corolla two- 
lipped, with a straight tube; stamens four, all with anthers, 
not protruding. The Greek name means “small.” 
An attractive little plant, resembling 
the little eastern Gill-over-the-ground, 
with slender trailing stems, slightly downy 
Chamissonis foliage, and lilac or whitish flowers, about 
(M. Douglasii) a quarter of an inch long. The calyx and 
iar wate corolla are hairy on the outside; the 
Spring, summer a A 
Cal., Oreg., Wash. Corolla has an erect upper lip, sometimes 
notched, and a spreading, three-lobed 
lower lip, and the stamens are four, the lower pair shorter. 
This is common in shady places near the coast. It has a 
pleasant aromatic fragrance and was used medicinally by 
California Indians, so it was called “good herb” by the 
Mission Fathers, and is still used as a tea by Spanish- 
Californians, who call it Yerba Buena del Campo, “field 
herb,” distinguishing it from Yerba Buena del Poso, “‘herb 
of the well,’’ the garden mint. 
There are several kinds of Monardella, fragrant herbs, 
all western, chiefly Californian; leaves mostly toothless; 
flowers small, in terminal heads, on long flower-stalks, with 
bracts, which are often colored; calyx tubular, with five, 
nearly equal teeth; corolla with erect upper lip, two-cleft, 
lower lip with three, nearly equal lobes; stamens four, 
protruding, sometimes the lower pair longer. 
An attractive plant, pretty in color and 
form, with purplish, often branching 
Yerba Buena, 
Tea-vine 
Western Penny- 
royal, Mustang 
Mint stems, from six inches to over two feet 
Monardélla high, smooth leaves, and small bright 
lanceolata pinkish-lilac flowers, crowded in terminal 
i heads, about an inch across, with purplish 
Summer ; 
Californie bracts. The outer ring of flowers blooms 
first and surrounds a knob of small green 
436 
; 
¢ 
2 
F 

