SOLANACEAE 
139 
9. SPHACELE Benth. 
Shrubby plant with the large white or pink-tinted flowers solitary in 
the axils of the reduced upper leaves. Calyx bell-shaped, equally 5-lobed, 
veiny, inflated and membranous after flowering. Corolla with 4 short 
spreading lobes, the fifth and lowest lobe much longer and erect, its tube 
broad with a hairy ring at base within. (Sphakos, the name of the 
Greeks for sage, the plants of this genus having similar foliage.) 
1. S. calycina Benth. Pitcher Sage. Plants about 8.6 or 11.5 dm. 
high, the herbage pubescent or woolly; leaves ovate, toothed, 4.8 to 9.6 
cm. long, the lowest petioled, the uppermost sessile.—Hillsides and canons. 
10. MONARDELLA Benth. 
Rather pleasantly fragrant herbs with the flowers in heads. Heads ter¬ 
minal on the stems or branches, subtended by broad bracts which are 
often more or less colored. Calyx tubular, 15-nerved, with 5 equal or 
nearly equal teeth. Corolla rose-purple, lavender or dull white, the upper 
lip 2-cleft, the lower 3-parted, all the lobes linear or narrowly oblong. 
(Diminutive of Monarda, on account of its resemblance to that genus.) 
1. M. villosa Benth. Perennial; stems mostly simple, several or many 
from a toughish or woody base; leaves round-ovate to lanceolate, entire 
or more commonly serrate, 1.2 to 2.4 cm. long, petioled.—Rocky hills. 
11. MENTHA L. Mint 
Odorous perennial herbs with slender creeping rootstocks and small 
flowers in whorls. Calyx bell-shaped or short-tubular, commonly 5- 
toothed. Corolla with a short tube, the upper lip notched, scarcely or 
not at all larger than the 3-lobed lower one. (Ancient Greek name.) 
Flower-whorls in the axils of foliage leaves, distinct. 
Herbage commonly light green : branches leafy to the end....l. M. canadensis. 
Herbage somewhat grayish ; leaves toward the end of the branches reduced 
and inconspicuous.2. M. pulegium. 
Flower-whorls in terminal spikes (or some in the axils of the upper foliage 
leaves). 
Leaves petioled ; spikes thick, dense or little interrupted.3. M. piperita. 
Leaves sessile or nearly so ; spikes slim, mostly interrupted.4. M. spicata. 
1. M. canadensis L. Tule Mint. Stems simple or much branched, 4 
to 11 dm. long; leaves oblong-lanceolate, serrate, petioled; calyx-teeth 
similar and equal or nearly so.—Marshes. 
2. M. pulegium L. Pennyroyal, Stems 3 to 6 dm. high; leaves ellip¬ 
tic- to oblong-ovate, serrate or entire, petioled ; calyx-teeth dissimilar, the 
two lower lanceolate-subulate.—Wet ground; nat. from Eur. and some¬ 
times grown in kitchen gardens, the herbage used for seasoning. 
3. M. piperita L. Peppermint. Stems erect, unbranched below the 
terminal inflorescence; herbage glabrous; leaves ovate to oblong-lanceo¬ 
late, sparsely and sharply serrate.—Along streamlets; nat. from Eur. 
4. M. spicata L. Spearmint. Similar to no. 3; calyx campanulate, 
its teeth nearly as long as tube.—Wet places; nat. from Eur. 
SOLANACEAE. NIGHTSHADE FAMILY 
Herbs (rarely shrubs) with alternate leaves, regular 5-lobed corolla, 5 
stamens, a single style, and a 2-celled superior ovary which ripens into a 
