1^ 
MARRUBIUM VULGARE. 
Gen. Char. Cahjx monophyllous, salver-shaped, rigid, ten- 
toothed, and channelled. Corolla monopetalous, gaping, 
upper lip erect, bifid, linear. 
Spec. Char. T^eiA of the calyx bristly, hooked. 
The Marrxjbium Vulgare* is a perennial plant, growing wild 
on road-sides, and among rubbish, and flowering in July. The root 
is furnished with numerous fibres ; the stalks are upright, strong, 
square, hairy or downy, and rise about a foot and a half in height ; 
the leaves are roundish or oblong, deeply serrated, veined, wrinkled, 
hoary, and stand in pairs upon thick broad footstalks ; the flowers 
are white, and produced in whorls at the footstalks of the leaves ; 
the ^;alyx is tubular, scored, and divided at the mouth into ten narrow 
segments which are hooked at the end ; the corolla consists of a cylin- 
drical tube, opening at the mouth into two lips ; the upper lip is 
narrow, and cloven or notched ; the under lip is broader, and 
divided into three segments, the centre one being broad and slightly 
scolloped at the end ; the lateral segments are spear-shaped and 
short; the filaments are supplied with simple anthers which are 
concealed in the tube ; a slender style issues from the germen, fur- 
nished with a cloven stigma; the seeds are of an oblong shape. 
Sensible and Chemical Properties. The leaves of this 
plant have a strong but not disagreeable smell, and a rough bitter 
taste; the odour is nearly lost by long keeping. The flowers likewise 
in some degree partake of the smell and taste of the leaves, but are 
not nearly so powerful : the latter is the only part us€d medicinally. 
The infusion reddens the tincture of litmus, gives a deep green olive 
precipitate with sulphate of iron, a brown with nitrate of silver, and 
a pale yellow with muriate of mercury ; but acetate and superacetate 
of lead do not affect it. The active principles of horehound, therefore, 
appear to be bitter extractive, volatile oil, and gallic acid. 
Medicinal Properties. Marrubium was much esteemed by 
the ancients for its extraordinary eff"ect in removing disorders of the 
lungs, and obstructions of the abdominat viscera rf taken in con- 
siderable quantities it is said to act as an aperient ; but its virtues, if 
it possess any, do not appear to be clearly ascertained. It has 
* npa(7(ov Dioscorides. According to Leinery, the name is derived from the 
Hebrew word Marrob, which means a l>iWer juice, 
t Dioscorides, lib. iii. c. 119. See also Pliny, lib, xx. c. 22. 
