Perennial. — Flowers from April to June. 
Root somewhat tuberous, moderately creeping, and sending down 
several largish fibres. Stems several, quadrangular, those pro- 
ducing flowers nearly upright, from 1 to 2 feet high, nearly smooth, 
or slightly hairy ; those destitute of flowers, after the flowering is 
over, are extended to a great length, and creep on the ground, these 
are covered with close hairs, which point backwards. Leaves op- 
posite, petiolate (stalked), more or less hairy, unevenly serrated, 
veiny, the lower ones heart-shaped, the upper ones egg-shaped, 
pointed, and nearly sessile. Whorls numerous, each composed of 
from 5 to 15 inodorous flowers. Bracteas small, strap-shaped, 
pointed, one at the base of each calyx. Calyx (fig. 1.) bell-shaped, 
slightly hairy, with 5 teeth, 5 rather prominent ribs, and, frequent- 
ly, a small strap-shaped pointed leaf or bractea on the outside of 
the tube above the base. Corolla (fig. 2.) large and handsome, 
yellow, tube a little longer than the calyx, purple and hairy within; 
upper lip upright, long, arched, villous, and edged with woolly 
hairs ; entire, or nearly so; lower lip shorter than the upper, beau- 
tifully spotted with tawny or deep orange, in 3 unequal segments, 
the middle one the longest, and marked with 3 lines (see fig. 2). 
Filaments (fig. 3, d .) tapering, hairy towards the base, of a yellow- 
ish colour. Anthers (fig. 4 ) 2-lobed, fleshy or glandular on the 
back part. Seeds (figs. 6 & 7.) oblong, convex on the outer side, 
triangular on the inner. 
Much diversity of opinion has prevailed amongst authors with 
respect to this plant, as may be seen by the number of synonyms 
given above; Gerarde, as long ago as 1597, considered it as 
belonging to the same genus as the common White Dead-nettle, 
(Lamium, t. 31.); and Mr. Bentham, in his very elaborate work 
on the Labiatce, has followed Crantz in restoring it* to that ge- 
nus again. 
It is a native of Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Carniola, 
and Italy, as well as of Britain. It is remarked in De Candolle’s 
and Sprengel’s “ Elements of the Philosophy of Plants,” (Engl, 
edit.) p. 398, that “ its most northern limits, as far as is yet known, 
are Wasa in Finland, Jamteland in Sweden, and Drontheim in 
Norway, (63°.) Its most southern limit is Haemus in Rumilia, (4 1 °.) 
Only thus far, too, the plant grows towards the east ; but in Li- 
thuania it grows as far as the Wolga Heights, (33°. E. lat.) . West- 
ward it extends as far as the Pyrenees.” 
It is a slight astringent, and is said also to act as a diuretic. 
There is a variety of it with variegated leaves ; and Sir T. G* 
Cullum mentions, in The Botanist's Guide, v. ii. p. 554, a curious 
and elegant variety with the blossom, or at least the terminal 
flower, flat, and 6-cleft, growing for many years in a lane near the 
Grove at Hardwick, Suffolk, one mile and a half from Bury. 
