; ~ 
350 THE LABIATE FAMILY. [ Origanum. 
and slightly toothed. Flowers purple or rarely white, in globular compact 
heads, forming a terminal trichotomous panicle. Bracts ovate, about the 
length of the calyx. Calyx very hairy inside the mouth, with short, nearly 
equal teeth. Corolla twice as long as the calyx, with 4 broad, nearly equal 
lobes, of which the upper one is broader and nearly erect, The two 
longest stamens, and sometimes all four, project beyond the corolla. 
On the edges of woods, roadsides, and hilly pastures, especially in lime- 
stone districts, throughout Europe and Russian Asia, except the extreme 
north. In Britain, spread over England and Ireland, rarer in Scotland. 
Fil, summer, 
ee 
VI. CALAMINTHA. CALAMINT. 
Branching, erect or ascending herbs, with ovate, toothed leaves, and 
purplish flowers in axillary cymes, sometimes forming dense whorls, some- 
times loose and paniculate. Calyx tubular, with 13 longitudinal parallel 
ribs (two between the midribs of the lower teeth, and one only between 
the midribs of the upper teeth), and five pointed teeth; the 3 upper teeth 
more or less connected at the base into an upper lip ; the mouth more or 
less closed with hairs. Corolla-tube usually longer than the calyx; the 
upper lip erect and slightly concave; the lower one spreading, with 3 
broad lobes. Stamens 4, in pairs under the upper lip, the outer ones the 
longest but not spreading beyond the corolla. 
A considerable genus, spread over the temperate regions of the northern 
hemisphere, both in the new and the old world. It is distinguished from 
Thymus and Origanum chiefly by the longer corolla and the stamens not 
diverging, from all the following genera by the arrangement of the ribs or 
nerves of the calyx. 
Annual. Calyx-tube enlarged at the base on the lower side. 
Flowers in axillary whorls of six . : . , - 1. C. Acinos, 
Perennials. Calyx-tube not enlarged at the base. 
Cymes axillary, many-flowered, forming dense whorls, with 
linear bracts as long as the calyxes . “ * : ; 
Cymes loose, axillary, and few-flowered or loosely paniculate. 
Bracts small, or none besides the floral leaves . . » 2 C. officinalis, 
An American Calamintha with red flowers is occasionally cultivated in 
our gardens. The common Balm (Melissa officinalis), which often esta- 
blishes itself for a time as an outcast from gardens, in the southern districts 
of England, much resembles a Calamintha; it is however a coarser 
plant, and is distinguished as a genus chiefly by a slight curve upwards in 
the tube of the corolla. 
1, C. Acinos, Clairv. (fig. 788). Meld Calamint, Basil Thyme.— 
A more or less branched annual, 6 or 8 inches high, and slightly downy. 
Leaves stalked, rather small, narrow-ovate, pointed, slightly toothed. 
Flowers pale-purple or white, in axillary whorls of about 6, on short, erect 
pedicels, without bracts. Calyx strongly ribbed; the tube much enlarged 
on the under side at the base, contracted again at the mouth; the teeth 
short and fine. Corolla in the common variety but little longer than the 
calyx, although occasionally near twice as long. 
In waste places, or more frequently as a weed of cultivation, in Europe 
and western Asia, extending northward into Scandinavia. Dispersed over 
England, and a portion of Scotland, very rare in Ireland. £7. summer, 
3. C. Clinopodium, 
