Localities.— O n the banks of rivers, canals, pools, and watery ditches, on a 
sandy or gravelly soil. Frequent in most counties in F.ngland; le6s frequent in 
Scotland and Wales. 
Perennial. — Flowers in July, August, and September. 
Root creeping. Stem from 1 to 3 feet high, upright, with 4 
angles, and 4 channelled sides, much branched ; branches oppo- 
site, from the axils of the leaves. Leaves opposite, nearly sessile, 
egg-spear-shaped, pointed, wrinkled, slightly hairy, very deeply, 
and coarsely serrated, the lower ones often deeply pinnatifid. 
Flowers small, in dense whorls in the axils of the upper leaves. 
Calyx (figs. 1 & 5.) hairy. Corolla (figs. 2, 3, & 4.) whitish, 
tinged with purple ; somewhat hairy within ; upper segment 
slightly notched at the end, and all of them, especially the lower 
one, dotted with purple. Filaments longer than the corolla, at first 
bent in, afterwards straight. Germen surrounded at bottom by a 
yellow glandular receptacle. Seech brown, shining, somewhat 
triangular 
The leaves vary, in being more or less hairy, and more or less 
divided. Dr. Withering has remarked, that between the two 
stamens it is not uncommon to find two other shorter filaments 
without anthers ; and that he once found them with anthers. It 
has the square stems, opposite leaves, inflorescence, flowers, and 
seeds of the class Didyndmia , order Gynospirmia ; but in con- 
sequence of its having, usually, but two stamens, it is, by most 
Botanists, placed in the class Didndria. The root is astringent. 
The juice gives a permanent colour to linen, wool, and silk, which 
will not wash out ; and it dyes a black with green vitriol. It is 
used by Gypsies to stain themselves of a dark colour, and hence 
its English name Gypsy-wort. According to the observations of 
Linnaeus, goats and sheep eat this plant ; cows and horses refuse 
it. Cassida viridis feeds upon it. 
“ This genus, (Lycopus,) though small in the number of species, 
is spread over the whole of Europe, Northern Asia, and North 
America ; and one species ( L. europeeus , var. y. arguta, Benth. 
Lab. p. 186. — L. australis, Br. Prod. FI. Nov. Holl. I. 500.) has 
been found in New Holland.” Bentiiam. 
“ To mo the wilderness of thorns and brambles, 
Beneath whose weeds the muddy runnel scrambles, — 
The bald, burnt moor — the marsh's sedgy shallows, 
Where docks, bullrushes, wateiflags, and mallows 
(Jhoko the rank waste, alike can yield delight. 
A blade of silver hair-grass nodding slowly 
In the soft wind ; — the thistle’s purple crown. 
The ferns, the rushes tall, and mosses lowly, 
A thorn, a weed, an insect, or a stone, 
Can thrill me with sensations exquisite — 
For all are exquisite, and every part 
Points to the mighty hand that fashion’d it.” 
New Monthly Magazine. 
