348 



LABIATE. (MINT FAMILY.J 



fine close down. (Brachystemum verticillatum, Michx.) — Dry hills, Maine to 

 Ohio, Kentucky, and southward. — FloAvers in very dense clusters; the outer 

 bracts ovate-lanceolate and pointed, the others pointless. 



* * * * Calyx equally 5-toothed : jiowers collected in dense and globular, often fas- 



cicled, small and minierous heads, ivhich are crowded in terminal corymbs: bracts 

 rigid, closely appressed, shorter than the flowers: lips of the corolla verysho:'t: 

 leaves narrow, sessile, entire, rigid, crowded and clustered in the axils. 



8. P. laneeolatum, Pursh. Smoothish or minutely pubescent (2° high); 

 (earns lanceolate or lance-linear, obtuse at the base; heads downy; calyx-teeth short 

 and triangular. — Dry thickets -• not rare. 



9. P. lillifdlium, Pursh. Smoother and leaves narrower and heads less 

 downy than in the last ; the narrower bracts and lance-awl-shaped calyx-teeth pun- 

 gently pointed. — S. New England to Illinois, and southward. 



* * * * * Calyx equally b-ton^hed : flowers collected in few and sol itary large and 



globular heads {terminal, and in the upper axils of the membranaceous petioled 

 leaves) ; the bracts loose, ciliate-bearded. 



10. P. niontanum, Michx. Stem (l°-3° high) and ovate- or oblong- 

 lanceolate serrate leaves glabrous ; bracts very acute or awl-pointed, the outer- 

 most ovate and leaf-like, the inner linear ; teeth of the tubular calyx short and 

 acute. — Alleghanies, from S. Virginia southward. — Flavor warm and pleas- 

 ant. Foliage and heads resembling Monarda. 



9. ORIGANUM, L. Wild Marjoram. 



Calyx ovate-bell-shaped, hairy in the throat, striate, 5-toothed. Tube of the 

 corolla about the length of the calyx, 2-lipped ; the upper lip rather erect and 

 slightly notched ; the lower longer, of 3 nearly equal spreading lobes. Stamens 

 4, exserted, diverging. — Perennials, with nearly entire leaves, and purplish 

 flowers crowded in cylindrical or oblong spikes, imbricated with colored bracts. 

 (An ancient Greek name, said to be composed of 6'pos, a mountain, and ydvos, 

 delight. ) 



1. O. vulgare, L. Upright, hairy, corymbose at the summit ; leaves peti 

 oled, round-ovate ; bracts ovate, obtuse, purplish. — Dry banks : scarce. June 

 Oct. (Nat. from Eu.) 



10. THYMUS, L. Thyme. 



Calyx ovate, 2-lipped, 13-nerved, hairy in the throat: the upper lip 3-toothed 5 

 Spreading ; the lower 2-cleft, with the' awl-shaped divisions ciliate. Corolla 

 short, slightly 2-Mpped ; the upper lip straight and flatfcish, notched at the apex ; 

 the lovver 3-cleft, Stamens 4, straight and distant, usually exserted. — Low per- 

 ennials, with small and entire strongly- veined leaves, and purplish or whitish 

 flowers. (The ancient Greek name of the Thyme, probably from 6va>, to bum 

 perfume, because it was vised for incense.) 



1. T. Serpy llum, L. (Creeping Thyme.) Prostrate; leaves green, flat, 

 ovate, entire, short-petioled, flowers crowded at the end of the branches. — Old 

 fields, Eastern New England to Pennsylvania: rare. (Adv. from Eu.) The 

 Garden Thyme is T. vulgaris, L. 



