_Mint Family_
Aromatic herbs mostly with 4-sided stems and simple opposite leaves;
flowers irregular, perfect, clustered, the inflorescence typically
cymose; calyx persistent, 5-toothed or lobed; corolla with a short
or long tube, the limb 4—5-lobed, mostly 2-lipped, but some regular;
stamens borne on the corolla tube, typically 4.
Calyx with a protuberance on the upper side.
Corolla 2-lipped, the upper arched, tube long, blue.
=Scutellaria.=
Calyx without a protuberance on the upper side.
Corolla tube longer than the calyx; flower 2-lipped purple.
=Prunella.=
Corolla tube not longer than the calyx; flower 2-lipped, pink.
=Stachys.=
Corolla tube shorter than the calyx; nearly regular, 4-lobed.
=Mentha.=
[Sidenote: =Scutellaria galericulata= L. _Marsh Skullcap._]
Perennial by slender stolons, leafy; stem erect, usually branched,
1—2 feet high. Leaves oblong-lanceolate to ovate-oblong, thin, short
petioled or the upper sessile, acute at the apex, dentate with low
teeth or the upper entire, subcordate or rounded at the base, 1—2½
inches long, the uppermost usually much smaller. Flowers an inch long,
bright blue with a slender tube and slightly enlarged throat, solitary
in the axils of the leaves, on peduncles shorter than the calyx.
In swamps and wet places, frequent along the railway from Field west to
Beavermouth.
[Sidenote: =Prunella vulgaris= L. _Heal-all, Self-heal._]
Hairy or nearly smooth; stems slender, creeping or ascending, or erect,
usually simple but sometimes considerably branched, 2 inches to 2 feet
high. Leaves ovate, oblong or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or subacute at
the apex, usually narrowed at the base, thin, entire or crenate, 1—4
inches long. Flowers in dense terminal spikes ½—1 inch long, becoming
2—4 inches in fruit; corolla violet-purple, or sometimes pink or white,
¼—½ an inch long, twice as long as the purplish-green calyx.
Common throughout the region in moist, open or shaded places at the
lower altitudes, frequently forming clumps of considerable size;
flowering throughout the summer.
[Sidenote: =Stachys palustris= L. _Marsh Woundwort._]
Erect, usually slender, simple or somewhat branched, hairy throughout;
1—4 feet high. Leaves lanceolate, sessile or very short petioled,
acuminate or acute at the apex, wedge-shaped or cordate at the
base, 2—5 inches long, ½—1 inch wide, crenulate or dentate, flowers
clustered, forming an elongated, interrupted spike, or sometimes in the
axils of the upper leaves, 6—10 in a whorl; calyx hairy, its slender
teeth more than ½ the length of the tube; corolla deep pink spotted
with purple, ½—¾ of an inch long, the upper lip erect, hairy, the lower
spreading 3-cleft.
In swamps and wet places throughout the region from Field west to
Beavermouth along the railway; flowering during July.
[Sidenote: =Mentha canadensis= L. _American Wild Mint._]
Perennial by runners; stem more or less hairy with spreading hairs,
simple or branched, 6 inches to 2½ feet high. Leaves oblong,
ovate-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, slender-stemmed, acute at the apex,
sharply serrate, smooth or sparingly hairy, the larger 2—3 inches long,
½—1 inch wide. Flowers numerous, small, ⅛ of an inch long, white, pink
or pale purple, all in whorls in the axils of the leaves, the calyx
about ⅓ the length of the corolla.
In moist soil and marshy places, frequent along the line of the railway
from Field west to Beavermouth; flowering during July.