MrLiTTIS MELISSOPHYLLUM. BASTARD-BALM. 
MELITTIS. Linn. Gen. Ph DipYNAMIA GYMNOSPERMIA. 
Calyx tubo corolle amplior. Corol/¢ labium fuperius planum ; labium 
inferius crenatum. Anthere cruciate. | 
Ram Syn. Gen. 24. SurrRUTICES ET HERBA VERTICILLAT A, 
MELITTIS Melfophyllum. Linn. Sp. Pl. ed. 3. 5.832. Syfl. Vegetab. ed. 14. Murr. p. 544- Scop. 
Carn.ed.9. p. 421.  Hudf. Fl. Angl. ed. 2. p. 264. Common Baftard- 
Balm. Yacg. FJ. Auflr. v. 1. p. 18. tab. 26. 
MELISSOPHYLLUM. Hall. Hjf. n. 944. 
LAMIUM montanum Meliffe folio. Baub. Pin. 5. 231. | 
MELISSA Fuchfi. Hort. Eyf. vern. Ord. 6. fol. 7. f..3. flore albo et flore purpureo. Baflard 
Baume with white and with purple flowers. Ger. emac. p. 690. f: 3. 9. Baulm-leav’d, 
Archangel, Baftard-Baulm. Rai Syn. ed. 3. p. 242. 
MELISSOPHYLLUM Fuchfii. Unpleafant Baulme. Park. Th. 5. 41. f. 4. 
LAMIUM pannonicum verficolore flore. | C/zf.. rar. pl. p. xxxvij. 

. RADIX perennis, fibrofa. 0 ROOT perennial, fibrous. 
CAULES fefquipedales et ultra, ere€ti, tetragoni, hir- 9 STALKS a foot and a half high, or more, upright, 
futi, ad bafin ramis paucis inftrudti. fquare, ftrongly haird, furnifhed at the bafe 
; with a few branches. 
FOLIA oppofita, petiolata, ovata, fubacuta, inequa- § LEAVES oppofite, ftanding on footftalks, ovate, 
. liter et obtufiufcule ferrata, villofiufcula, ru- ° fomewhat pointed, unevenly and bluntl 
gofa, petioli canaliculati, hirfuti, bafi. con- 9 ferrated, flightly villous, wrinkled, footftalks 
nati. ; Q concave above, hirfute, united at the bafe. 
FLORES magni, fpeciofi, odorati, pedunculati, ver- 9 FLOWERS large, fhewy, odoriferous, flanding on 
ticillati, fubfecundi, verticillis dimidiatis, fub- footftalks, growing chiefly to one fide, in half 
fexfloris. ; | whorls about fix flowers together. 
PEDUNCULI teretes, hirfütuli, longitudine petio- 6 FLOWER-STALKS round, fomewhat hairy, the 
lorum. length of the leaf-ftalks. 
CALYX: Pertanrurum monophyllum, inflato-ven- 9 CALYX: a Pertantuium of one leaf, fomewhat 
tricofum, bilabiatum, venofum, glabrum, inflated and bellying out, two-lip’d, veiny, 
venis hirfutulis, divifuris labiorum. perquam fmooth, except the veins which are fome- 
inconftantibus, jig. 1. ; what-hairy, the divifions of the lips altoge- 
| ther inconftant, fg. 1. 
COROLLA monopetala, ringens; villofula, alba; Tubvs 0 COROLLA monopetalous, ringent, {lightly villous, 
calyce longior, multoque anguftior, Laézum white; 7z4e longer than the calyx and much 
fuperius erectum, fubrotundum, integrum, narrower, upper lip ere&t, roundifh, entire, 
inferius trifidum, laciniis obtufis, intermedia lower lip trifid, fegments obtufe, the middle 
majori, fubrotundo,; purpureo, margine cre- one largeft, purple, the margin finely 
nulato, albo, jig. 2. notched, and white, fgg. 2. ' 
STAMINA: Firamenta 4; alba, villofa, corolla 6 STAMINA: four FiLAMENTS, white, villous, fhorter 
breviora; ANTHER4& flavelcentes, fg. 3. than the corolla; AN THERE yellowifh, £z. 9. 
PISTILLUM: GzRMEN obtufum, quadrifidum, villo- 9 PISTILLUM : GERMEN obtufe, quadrifid, villous ; 
fum; Srvrus filiformis, longitudine {fta- STYLE filiform, the length of the flamina ; 
minum; STIGMA, bifidum, acutum, jg. 4. SrT1GMA bifid and pointed, fig. 4. 
SEMINA 4 in fundo calycis, nigricantia, jig. 5. 
CC 
DDYDPQDIDPANAIDAOM"VDADAADOARMNDNOIMNODIOIMNOI'O 
colour, jig. 5. 
The Meliitis Melifophyllum, a plant common to many parts of Europe, has hitherto been difcovered in the 
more weftern parts of this kingdom only, particularly Pembrokefhire, Devonfhire, and Hampfhire, in fome of 
which counties it grows in great abundance ;, Dr. Wave.t has obferved it in various places about Barnflaple : 
in his company, I gathered it at the foot of a hedge by the road fide near the hofpitable manfion of 
CuicussTER, Efq. of Hall, about two miles from that town. It is moft commonly found in woods, 
- or fituations fomewhat fhady. M 
It was not probable that a plant of fuch fingular beauty fhould be fuffered to bloffom in its native woods, 
unfeen; accordingly, we now find it in moft of our nurferies, and gardens of the curious, yet not fo generally 
as it merits. Moft authors defcribe the MeZz as having an unpleafant fmell; the frefh herb when bruifed 
partakes of the agreeable {cent of Balm, and the difagreeable fmell of ftinking Horehound ; dried, it lofes the 
unpleafant part, and becomes delightfully fragrant ; the flowers when they firft open have appeared to us to 
be fweetly odoriferous, we fay appeared to us, becaufe as they are not delcribed as fuch, others may not have 
found them fo, for we have obferved an unaccountable variation in the perceptibility of fmells in different 
erfons, we know feveral who can difcover no fcent in the flowers of the Perfian Iris; the general acutenefs of 
whofe olfaétories cannot be called in queflion. a 
CLusius obferved this plant in its wild ftate with white flowers; he mentions alfoa variety of it in all 
refpe&ts fmaller; whether this be a variety differing as we have obferved the Me//fJa grandiflora to do, or whether 
it be a fpecies, we muft leave to the determination of others: in the Apothecaries garden at Chelfea, we have 
fcen a Melittis anfwering to Ciusius’s defcription, the flowers of which were not more than half the fize of 
the Devonfhire one, of a pale red colour, correfponding more with JacQuiN's figure, the bloffoms of which 
are not fo large as thofe of our plant. ) 
From a gland which encircles the bafe ofthe germen there is much honey fecreted ; hence the plant accords 
with its name MeZt/r, hence it becomes the refort of bees. 
The cruciform appearance of the Anthere ought not to form any part of the generic character, being, as 
Profeffor Jacquin has obferved, common to many of the didynamous plants. | 
There is no difficulty attends the cultivation of this charming hardy perennial ; planted in almoft any foil, 
provided it be moderately moift and fomewhat fhady, it will flourifh; it increafes by roots and feeds, and 
may be readily propagated by parting the one or fowing the other in autumn, | 

SEEDS four, in the bottom of the calyx, of a blackifh 
