Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  | 
March,  19 19.  -* 
Ballota  Hirsuta. 
149 
Marrubium  vulgar e  Linnaeus. 
Marrubium  vulgare  L.  (Fig.  i)  commonly  known  as  horehound, 
hoarhound.  white  hoarhound,  or  marvel,  is  a  perennial  herb  in- 
digenous to  Europe  and  Central  Asia.  It  is  cultivated  in  various 
parts  of  the  United  States  and  has  escaped  in  waste  places  through- 
out North  America.  The  underground  portion  consists  of  a  short 
rhizome  bearing  numerous  slender  rootlets.  The  aerial  stem  is 
erect,  quadrangular,  .3  to  .8  M.  high,  3  to  5  mm.  in  diameter, 
Fig.  3.    Calyx  of  Marrubium  vulgare  to  right;  calyx  of  Ballota  hirsuta 
to  left.    X  4- 
branched,  the  branches  ascending.  Its  white-wooly  aspect  is  very 
striking.  The  leaves  are  opposite,  petiolate,  exstipulate,  varying 
from  ovate  to  broadly  ovate  to  nearly  orbicular  in  outline,  1.5  to  6 
Cm.  in  length,  9  to  25  Mm.  in  breadth ;  apex  obtuse ;  base  narrowed 
or  rounded  or  sub-cordate ;  margin  coarsely  crenate ;  upper  surface 
downy- whitish,  lower  surface  woolly;  venation  pinnate-reticulate. 
The  infloresence  is  a  verticillaster  with  flowers  arranged  in  dense 
axillary  whorls,  each  having  a  tubular  sparsely  pubescent  calyx 
6-7  Mm.  long,  with  10  subulate,  recurved,  bristle-like  teeth  (Fig. 
3,  M),  a  whitish  bilabiate  corolla,  four  parallel  stamens  ascending 
under  the  upper  lid  of  the  corolla,  and  a  bi-carpellary  pistil  with  a 
four-celled  ovary.    The  fruit  consists  of  four  nutlets. 
Microscopic  Characteristics  of  Marrubium  vulgare  L. 
The  leaf  shows  the  typical  dorsoventral  lamina  common  to  the 
genus  Marrubium:  Transverse  (Fig.  4)  and  surface  sections  show 
an  upper  epidermis,  devoid  of  stomata,  composed  of  tabular  cells 
with  somewhat  undulate  outer  walls,  a  layer  of  vertically  elongated 
