416 MARRUBIUM. 
fmaller. Corolla: one-petalled, ringent; tube cylindri¬ 
cal ; border gaping, with a long tubular opening; upper 
lip ereft, linear, bifid, acute; lower reflex, broader, half- 
three-cleft; the middle fegment, broader, emarginate, the 
lateral ones acute. Stamina: filaments four, (horter than 
the corolla ; concealed beneath the upper lip, two long¬ 
er ; antheras Ample. Piftilluin : germ four-cleft; ftyle 
filiform, of the lame length, and in the lame fituation 
with the ftamens ; ftigma bifid. Pericarpium : none ; 
calyx contrasted at the neck, fpread out at the mouth, 
incloling the feeds. Seeds four, fomewhat oblong.— 
EJfential CharaEler. Calyx: falver-lhaped, rigid, ten- 
Itreaked; corolla up(>er lip bifid, linear, llraight. There 
are thirteen fpecies, in two divisions. 
I. Calyx with five teeth. 
1. Marrubium Alyffum, Galen’s mad wort, or plaited- 
leaved white horehound : leaves wedge-fliaped, five- 
toothed, plaited ; whorls without any involucre. Root 
biennial. Stems about eighteen inches high. Leaves 
hoary, bluntly toothed. Whorls of flowers fmall and 
loofe. The fegments of the calyx end in very ftiff pric¬ 
kles, fpreading open. Flowers dark purple, three on 
each fide. Native of Spain and Italy ; cultivated by Ge¬ 
rard, before 1597. It flowers in July and Augult. 
2. Marrubium peregrinum, or Sicilian white hore¬ 
hound: leaves ovate-lanceolate, ferrate; toothlets of the 
calyxes briftle-fhaped. Stems near three feet high, 
branching much more than the common fort. Leaves 
rounder, whiter, and (landing farther afunder. Whorls 
of flowers not fo large; but the corolla has a longer tube. 
Like the next fpecies, there are feveral Items from the 
fame root, procumbent at the lower part, but rifing up¬ 
right above ; fomewhat longer and more /lender than in 
•that; leaves narrower, not fo thick, villofe or wrinkled 5 
but fofter, with a more delicate down, and more hoary; 
the flowers, efpecially the helmet, are divided into /harper 
fegments ; the calyxes are more deeply /freaked, and are 
cut into longer fegments, more /landing out. Native of 
the Levant, Au/tria, Sicily, &c. 
( 3 . M. Creticum. In this variety, the leaves are very 
hoary, much longer and narrower ; the whorls of flowers 
are fmaller; and the brillly indentures of the calyx longer 
and eredt; the whole plant has an agreeable flavour. Dr. 
Smith makes it a di/tinfl fpecies. It is a native of Liba- 
aus; Miller fays Spain and Portugal; cultivated in the 
Eltham garden before 1732. 
3. Marrubium candidiflimum, or woolly white hore¬ 
hound : leaves fubovate, woolly, einarginate-crenate at top; 
calycine toothlets awl-/haped. Stalks from a foot to a foot 
and a half in height, procumbent at the lower part, but 
rifing upright at top, obtufely quadrangular and villofe. 
Leaves thick, much wrinkled and villofe, pale green and 
hoary, the upper ones fmaller. Flowers at the end of the 
/fern and branches in clofe whorls, white, the upper lip 
eredl and bent back, blunter than in 4:he other forts; 
the lower lip three-parted, the middle fegment entire, 
blunter and fomewhat wider than the lateral ones. Na¬ 
tive of the Levant; Miller fays Spain ; cultivated in 
1732, by James Sherard, M. D, It flowers from July to 
September. 
4. Marrubium Aftracanicum, or Aftracan white hore¬ 
hound : leaves ovate, crenate, tomentofe, very much 
wrinkled, calycine teeth awl.fliaped, upper fegments of 
the corolla acute. Stems feveral, perennial, half a foot 
high, branched and procumbent, from which annually 
fpring many other items, whi,ch are herbaceous, eredt, a 
foot long, fcarcely branched, woolly-villofe and hoary. 
Leaves hoary, wrinkled very much, foft, ovate, blunt, fer¬ 
rate, bitter, but with fcarcely any fmell; the younger ones 
with Items extremely woolly. Whorls very clofe, compofed 
of many feflile flowers, with an involucre of awl-fliaped 
acute woolly leaflets ; corolla twice as long as the calyx ; 
tube cylindrical, white; border purple; upper lip linear, 
cloven as far as the middle ; ereflr, villofe at the back; 
lower lip trifid, the length of the upper; the lateral feg¬ 
ments ihorter, oblong and blunt; the middle one very 
large, broad and roundifli, emarginate, flat, ftretchinc- 
forward. Native of Aftracan ; and flowers in May. ° 
5. Marrubium fupinum, or procumbent white hore¬ 
hound : calycine teeth briftle-ftiaped, ftraight, villofe. 
Stems feldom above eight or nine inches long,covered with 
a foft hoary down. Leaves fmall, roundilh, very foft to the 
touch, hoary, indented on the edges. Whorls of flowers 
fmall, very downy, and white. Native of Spain and the 
South of Europe; cultivated in 1714, in the botanic gar¬ 
den at Chelfea; it flowers from Augult to October. 
6. Marrubium catariasfylium, or cat-mint white hore¬ 
hound : leaves ovate, deeply, notched ; calyx-teeth awl- 
Ihaped, fmooth, fpreading. Stem branched, erect, one or 
two feet high, fquare, rather downy. Leaves much re-' 
fembling thofeof Nepeta cataria, oppofite, 011 /talks, green 
above, paler bene.ath; flowers white, many in a whorl. 
Native of the eaft. 
7. Marrubium velutinum, or velvet-white horehound 
leaves roundi/h, retufe, filky, rugofe, crenate; calyx- 
teeth fpreading; ftem branched. The habit of this new 
fpecies is very fimilar to that of M. vulgare, next to be 
defcribed. Stems about two feet high, woolly, eredt, and 
llraight. Leaves oppofite, on fnort /talks. Flowers very 
numerous, in clofe whorls, their tube whiti/h; upper lip 
pale; lower of a tawny yellow, bordered with brown. 
Gathered on Mount Parnafl'us by Dr. Sibthorp. Sm, 
Prodr. FI. Grac. t. 56:. 
II. Calyx with ten teeth. 
8. Marrubium vulgare, or common white horehound : 
teeth of the calyx briftle-Zhaped, hooked. Root peren¬ 
nial. The whole plant white with down; Items upright, 
a foot or eighteen inches in height, branching towards 
the top. Lower leaves roundifli, upper fomewhat ovate; 
all wrinkled, with thick veins beneath, bluntly ferrated 
about the edge, an inch wide, and as long or longer, run¬ 
ning down into the petiole, which is half an inch long, 
and channelled above. Whorls very clofe, conlilting of 
above forty, fome above fifty, feflile flowers ; calyx 
woolly, fringed on the infide at the bottom of the teeth 
with woolly hairs; having as many ftreaks on the outfide 
as there are teeth, which are ufually ten, but fometimes 
twelve ; corolla fmall, white, comprefled, fliriveiling in 
the calyx; tube curved a little; upper lip lanceolate or 
linear, blunt, deeply Cloven; the lower has the middle 
fegment bent back and /lightly fcalloped, the lateral feg¬ 
ments lanceolate, entire, ihort. The anthers yellow, with 
a black fubftance in the middle. The involucre under 
the whorls is briftle-fhaped. 
Common w-hite horehound has a ftrong penetrating 
fmell, not altogether unpleafant. It was a favourite me¬ 
dicine with the ancients in obllrudtions of the vifcera. 
In large dofes it loofens the belly. It is a principal in¬ 
gredient in the negro Caefar’s remedy for vegetable 
poifons. A young man, who had occaiion to take mer¬ 
curial medicines, was thrown into a falivation, which 
continued more than a year; every method that was tried 
to remove it, rather increafed the complaint; at length 
Linnaeus prefcribed an infufion of this' plant, and the pa¬ 
tient got well in a fhort time. No quadrupeds feem to 
eat it; bees much frequent the flowers. Native of mo/t 
parts of Europe, by road-fides and in walte places, flow¬ 
ering from June to September. 
9. Marrubium Africanum, or African white hore¬ 
hound ; leaves cordate, roundifli, emarginate, crenate. 
Root perennial; Item two feet high, upright, lubtomen- 
tofe, deeply grooved on the oppofite. tides. Branches op¬ 
pofite, Retzius remarks, that this plant has the involu¬ 
cre of Phlornis, the corolla of this genus, and the anthers 
of Leonurus; infotnuch that he is doubtful to what ge¬ 
nus it ought to be afligned. Linntpus diftinguiihes this 
