ORIGANUM 
YULGARE.-COMMON MARJORAM. 
Class XIX. DIDYNAMIA.— Order I. GYMNOSPERMIA. 
Natural Order, LABIATJ1. THE MINT TRIBE. 
Pig. (a) represents a flower magnified ; (6) view of the corolla, with the stamens, &c.; (c) the germen and style ; (d) stamen and anther. 
The Common Marjoram is a perennial plant, a native of Europe, growing on dry gravelly hills. With us 
it chiefly occurs in thickets, on chalk or limestone ; flowering in July and August. 
From a brownish, creeping, fibrous root-stake arise several erect, leafy, angular, purplish stems, about 
a foot high, clothed with short recurved hairs, and branched and panicled at the summit. The leaves are 
deflexed, ovate, pointed, dark green, entire, or slightly serrated, minutely fringed, petioled, and grow in 
pairs at the joints. The flowers are in dense, convex, terminal panicles, of a light purple or rose colour, 
and furnished with numerous ovate, sessile bractes, one under each flower, rather longer than the Calyx. 
The calyx is tubular, five toothed ; like the leaves covered with resinous dots, and fringed at the mouth 
with dense, very conspicuous white hairs. The corolla is funnel-shaped, with the upper lip erect, nearly 
flat, bifid, and obtuse ; the under in three deep, spreading, nearly equal lobes. The filaments are four, 
thread-shaped, two longer than the corolla, supporting ovate two-lobed anthers. The style, which is fili- 
form, with a bifid reflexed stigma, rises from a four-lobed germen. The nuts are four, ovate, and lodged in 
the bottom of the calyx. 
About eighteen species of this genus, natives of various countries, have been described, and of these 
the sorts usually cultivated are the common marjoram. Origanum vulgare ; the pot marjoram, O. Onites ; 
the sweet marjoram, O. Marjorana ; the winter sweet marjoram, O. heracleoticum ; very much resembling 
the above species in appearance; but it is of a more aromatic flavour, and is always used in preference. 
It is indigenous to Greece whence it was introduced into this country in 1640; A sheltered dry situation 
is most favourable to its growth ; the Egpytian marjoram, O. cegijptiacum ; and the dittany of Crete or 
Candia, O. Dictamnus. Of the first there are varieties, with white flowers, and pale green stalks, with 
purple flowers and white variegated leaves, which is sometimes cultivated under the title of pot marjoram . 
The fourth sort is at present commonly known by the name of winter sweet marjoram, but was formerly 
called pot marjoram, and is chiefly used for nosegays. The leaves resemble those of common sweet marjo- 
ram, but the flowers are produced in spikes. The Origanum Creticum is the Wild Origanum, or Marjoram 
of Dioscorides and the modern Greeks. It has much the habit of the common Marjoram of Britain, but 
the long slender spikes distinguish it both from that and the O. smyrnceum, or Smyrna Marjoram. 
Qualities. — The leaves and flowering tops of this plant have an agreeable odour, and a warm pun- 
gent taste which reside in an essential oil. 
Medical Properties and Uses. — This plant resembles Wild Thyme, both in its sensible qualities 
and medicinal properties, and may be used for the same purposes. Its effects are those of a mild stimulant 
and carminative ; and it was formerly held in high estimation as an emenagogue ; but it is now fallen into 
disuse. The essential oil is sometimes applied to carious teeth on a dossil of lint or cotton, to relieve the 
pain of tooth-ache. The leaves when dried are used instead of tea, and are said to be exceedingly grateful ; 
and the powder enters as an ingredient into the composition of some cephalic snuffs. For internal use, 
half an ounce of the leaves are infused in a pint of boding water, and drank at intervals, or 9j. of the powder 
may be taken twice or thrice a day. 
Origanum Majorana. — Sweet Knotted Marjoram. This plant, which, like the common marjoram, 
has long been admitted into the British pharmacopoeias, is a native of Portugal and Syria. It is supposed 
to be the Amaracus of the ancients, and is said to have been introduced into this country about the year 
1573. 
* See Philips’s History of Cultivated Vegetables. 
