226 
LVII. LABIATE. 
[Mentha. 
slender, diffusely branched, wiry herb; branches 2-10 in. long, often matted, 
pubescent. Leaves sessile or petioled, A— | in. loug, rounded or oblong- 
ovate, obtuse, quite entire, covered with pellucid dots. Flowers solitary, axil- 
lary, on short or long, slender pedicels. Calyx T V-i in. long, campanulate, 
villous externally, and on the teeth internally. Corolla lobes short. Stameus 
included in the corolla-tube of some flowers, exserted in others. — Micromeria 
Cunninghamii y JBenth. 
Northern and Middle Islands : abundant in rather dry places from the Bay of Islands 
to Otago, Banks and Solander, etc. 
2. SCUTELLARIA, Linn. 
Herbs or shrubs. Flowers racemed or wliorled in the upper pairs of 
leaves. Bracts obscure or 0. — Calyx campanulate, 2-lipped ; lips entire, 
upper with a flat shield or scale adnate to its upper surface, closed after 
flowering. Corolla-tube exserted, dilated above ; limb 2-lipped, upper lip 
entire or notched, lower dilated 3-lobed. Stamens 4, exserted; anthers 
meeting in pairs, of longer stamens with unequal cells. Ovary on a long or 
short curved pedicel. Nuts dry, tubercled. 
A very large genus, found in almost all quarters of the world. 
1. S. novae-Zelandise, Hook. f. FI. N. Z. ii. 335. S. humilis, i. 205, 
not of Brown. A slender, sparingly branched, nearly glabrous herb, 6-12 in. 
high. Stem square, suberect or ascending. Leaves small, in distant pairs, 
i— ^ in. long, petioled, ovate orbicular or subreniform, obscurely 3-5-lobed or 
crenate or quite entire, petioles £-1 in. long. Flowers in opposite pairs in 
the axils of the uppermost leaves ; peduncles stout, in. long. Calyx short, 
puberulous ; lips obtuse, rounded, scale shorter than the upper lip, but be- 
coming much larger in fruit. Corolla ^ in long ; lobes of lips short and 
obtuse, villous. Anthers all glabrous. 
Middle Island : Nelson, Bidwill ; Fox Hill, Munro. Closely allied to the Australian 
S. humilis , Br. 
Of Plectranthus australis, Br., an Australian and Pacific Island plant, introduced into 
Raoul’s ‘ Choix de Plantes,’ I know nothing. 
Order LVIII. PLANTAGXNE.E. 
Herbs, with radical tufted leaves, rarely having leafy stems. Flowers solitary 
or spiked on slender leafless scapes, inconspicuous, green or brown. — Sepals 4. 
Corolla scarious ; tube cylindric ; lobes 4, spreading, with incurved margins. 
Stamens 4, long, inserted on the corolla-tube, alternating with its lobes ; an- 
thers versatile. Ovary 1, 2- or 4-celled ; style long, filiform, stigma downy ; 
ovules 1-6 in each cell, inserted on the septum. Capsule usually bursting 
transversely. Seeds peltate; albumen dense ; embryo generally cylindric. 
A small Order, widely diffused. 
1. PLA3STTAGO, Linn. 
Herbs, with usually ribbed, rosulate, radical leaves. Scapes few- or many- 
flowered. Flowers usually densely spiked, green, hermaphrodite. — Sepals 
