DESCRIPTION OP MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
71 
floral wedge-shaped, at base 3-cleft, the lobes lanceolate. 
Close whorls of flowers in the axils of the leaves. Calyx 
top-shaped, 5-nerved, with 5 nearly equal teeth which are 
awl-shaped and when old rather spiny-pointed and spread- 
ing. Upper lip of the corolla oblong and entire, somewhat 
arched; the lower spreading, 3-lobed, its middle lobe larger, 
narrowly oblong-obovate, entire, the lateral ones oblong. 
Stamens 4, ascending under the upper lip; anthers approx- 
imate in pairs. Nutlets truncate and sharply 3-angled. Waste 
places. FI. July- August. The leaves are collected in flow- 
ering season. 
PLANTAGINACEJE. (Plantain Family.) 
Plantago major, L. Common Plantain. Herbaceous peren- 
nial, leaves all radical and erect spikes of small flowers. 
Smooth or rather hairy, rarely roughish; leaves strongly 
ribbed, ribs free to the contracted base, ovate, oblong, oval, 
or slightly heart-shaped, often toothed, abruptly narrowed in- 
to a channeled petiole ; spike dense, obtuse. Calyx of 4 imbri- 
cated persistent sepals, round-ovate or obovate. Corolla sal- 
verform, glabrous, withering on the pod, the border 4-parted ; 
capsule ovoid, circumcissile near the middle, 8-18 seeded; 
seeds angled, reticulated. Only sparsely found in towns and 
around dwellings; introduced from Europe, although also in- 
digenous at the northern limit of the United States. The fol- 
lowing species is very nearly alike, and undoubtedly a native, 
extending over the whole country and abundant in this State. 
Plantago Pugelii, Decaisne. Leaves as in the last, but paler and 
thinner; spikes long and thin, attenuate at the apex ; sepals 
oblong, acutely carinate ; capsules cylindraceous-oblong, cir- 
cumcissile much below the middle, 4-9 seeded ; seeds oval- 
oblong, not reticulated. FI. June-August. The leaves are 
used. 
CHENOPODIACEaE. (Goosefoot Family.) 
Chenopodium Botrys, L. Jerusalem Oak. More or less gland- 
ular, pubescent and viscid, aromatic annual, leaves slender- 
