DESCRIPTION OF MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
67 
lands in dry soils and again in damp localities. Abounds in 
the oak-barrens. FI. June-July. Collect while flowering. 
Pycnanthemum incanum, Michx. Wild Basil. Leaves ovate- 
oblong, acute, remotely toothed, downy above and mostly 
hoary with whitish wool underneath ; the uppermost whitened 
both sides; cymes open, bracts linear and awl-shaped, and, 
with the calyx teeth, more or less awn-pointed. Calyx 2- 
labiate (3 upper teeth united), the teeth and the tips of the 
loose bracts not rigid ; flowers in dense, flattened, glomerate 
cymes. Damp woods. Used for distillation of an ethereal 
oil. The leaves and tops are used. 
Pycnanthemum montanum, Michx. Mountain Mint. Stem 
1-3° high ; ovate or oblong-lanceolate, serrate leaves glab- 
rous ; bracts very acute and awl-pointed, the outermost 
ovate and leaf-like, the inner linear. Calyx equally 5- 
toothed, teeth short and acute. Heads few, large and glo- 
bose (terminal, and in the upper axils of thin, petioled 
leaves); bracts loose, ciliate-bearded. FI. July. Used like 
the former. Only in the higher mountains of East Tennes- 
see, on the borders of North Carolina, Clingman-Dom., 
Frog Mountains. 
Melissa officinalis, L. Balm. Upright, branching, lemon- 
scented perennial; leaves broadly ovate, crenate-toothed. 
Corolla with a recurved, ascending tube; calyx with the 
upper lip flattened, and 3-toothed, the lower two-cleft. Sta- 
mens 4, curved and conniving under the upper lip. Clus- 
ters few-flowered, loose, one-sided, with few and mostly 
ovate bracts, resembling the leaves. An excellent honey- 
plant, deriving its name from “melissa” (Greek), the bee. 
Frequently cultivated in gardens. Hardly deserving men- 
tion here, as it is not prone to spread. FI. June. The 
leaves and tops are used for distillation. 
Hedeoma pulegioides, Pers. American Pennyroyal. Low, 
odorous annual, with small leaves and loose axillary clus- 
ters of bluish flowers, often forming terminal, leafy racemes. 
Erect, branching, hairy ; leaves oblong-ovate, petioled, some- 
