with short fine hairs, and minute white shining globules. Blossoms pale red, hairy; the middle segment rather longer than the rest. Stamens as long, or longer than the blossom, but in some specimens they are shorter, and then the anthers appear to be destitute of pollen.

Var. 2. Leaves egg-spear-shaped.

Lob. Obs. 264. 2-Ic. i. 494. 2-Ger. Em. 664. 2-Park. 12. 4-H. Ox. xi.

3.9.

Commonly cultivated in gardens, and erroneously supposed to be 0. Onites of Linnæus; can scarcely be esteemed a native of Britain. E.)

WINTER MARJORAM. WILD OF FIELD MARJORAM. (Welsh: Meswuad cyffredin; Penrudd. E.) Thickets and hedges, in calcareous soil. Catton, near Norwich. Mr. Woodward. In a wood near Cartmell Wells. Mr. Atkinson. Clapham, Yorkshire. Mr. Caley. (In Anglesey. Welsh Bot. Banks of the Water of Leith. Mr. Neill. Grev. Edin. Plentiful by the road side approaching Clevedon from Bristol, within a short distance of the former place. In the lanes, and on the banks of the river, about Teignmouth. Frequent by the road side about Mirables, and Undercliff, Isle of Wight. On chalky soil in the neighbourhood of Dover. E.) P. July-Aug. THY'MUS.+ Calyx bilabiate, mouth closed with soft hairs. T. SERPYL'LUM Flowers in small heads: stems decumbent: leaves flat, blunt, ovate, entire, fringed at the base.

Kniph. 6-(Fl. Dan. 1164-E. Bot. 1514. E.)-Ludw. 121-Vaill. 32. 9 and 7-Curt.—Clus. i. 359. 1-Dod. 277. 1-Lob. Obs. 230. 2, and Ic. i. 423.2-Ger. Em. 570. 1-Park. 8. 10-Pet. 31. 1-H. Ox. xi. 17, row 1. 1-Fuchs. 251—J. B. iii. 269-Blackw. 418-Matth. 725-Riv. Mon. 42. 2, Serpyll. fl. minore.-Ger. 455. 1 and 2-Lonic. i. 119. 1.

Filaments of different lengths. Stems woody, nearly cylindrical, often reddish, slender, three or four inches long: more when drawn up by other plants. Leaves oblong-egg-shaped, very entire, with hollow dots on both surfaces, fringed at the base with a few fine white hairs. Calyx coloured with a circle of white hairs round the inside at the base of the segments, which, while the plant is in flower, lie flat to the sides of the calyx, but when the blossom falls off close up its mouth. Blossom purplish red, (small, middle segment entire. E.)

MOTHER OF THYME. WILD THYME. (Welsh: Gruwlys gwyllt. Gaelic:
Lus-mhic-ri-Breatuinn. E.) Heaths and mountainous places.
P. July-Aug.t

The whole plant is a warm aromatic. The dried leaves, used instead of tea, are exceedingly grateful, and a good stomachic; the essential oil is so acrid, that it may be considered as a caustic, and is much used with that intention by farriers. (It is sometimes added to beer to render it more piquant, and to prevent its turning sour. E.) A little cotton wool moistened with it, and put into the hollow of an aching tooth, frequently relieves the pain. The tops dye purple. Goats and sheep eat it. Horses are not fond of it. Cows refuse it.

+(From bow, to perfume; alluding to its fragrance, which induced its adoption in heathen rites. E.)

The whole plant is fragrant, and yields an essential oil that is very heating. An infusion of the leaves removes the head-ach occasioned by excess. (It was among the wholesome herbs provided by Thestylis. Virg. Ec. 2.

“Allia, Serpillumque, herbas contundit olentes.”

VOL. III.

K

It is subject to considerable variations, the principal of which are:
Var. 2. Fl. alb. Huds. Blossoms white.

Thyme delights in dry, upland spots, such as may generally be deemed most healthfulheuce Dr. Armstrong considers its prevalence as an index to the most desirable situations for building:

"Mark where the dry champaign Swells into cheerful hills; where Marjoram

And Thyme, the love of bees, perfume the air:
There bid thy roofs high on the basking steep
Ascend there light thy hospitable fires." E.)

A general opinion prevails, that the flesh of sheep, or deer, that feed upon aromatic plants, particularly upon Thyme, is much superior in flavour to common mutton; but Mr. Bowles, the ingenious author of the account of the Sheep-walks in Spain, (Gent. Mag. 1764), considers this as a vulgar error. He says, sheep are not fond of aromatic plants; that they will carefully push aside the Thyme to get at the grass growing beneath it; and that they never touch it, unless when walking apace, and then they will catch at any thing. The attachment of bees to this and other aromatic herbs is well known. (It was eren customary among the ancients to render the hives more agreeable by rubbing them with such as

"L'umile Serpillo,
Che con mille radici attorte e crespe
Sen va carpon vestando il terren d'erba,

E la Mélissa ch'odor sempre esala;

La Mammola, l'Origano, et il Timo,

Che natura creò per fare il mele." Rucellai.

Before the substitution of the produce of the Sugar-cane, honey was a far more important requisite in domestic economy than latterly, and Thyme was then extensively cultivated for the encouragement of bees;

"Here their delicious task the fervent bees,
In swarming millions, tend: around, athwart,
Thro' the soft air, the busy nations fly,
Cling to the bud, and, with inserted tube,
Suck its pure essence, its ethereal soul:
And
soaring dare
The purple heath, or where the Wild Thyme grows,
And yellow load them with the luscious spoil." Thomson.

And thus does a brother poet delicately compliment the amiable Shenstone, who, in his admired retreat, omitted no suitable accompaniment:

"He cultur'd his Thyme for the bees,

But never would rifle their cell." Cunningham.

A salutary caution may be here given, that honey often becomes powerfully impregnated with the quality of the plants from which it is extracted. It is important, therefore, cautiously to exclude deleterious herbs from the apiarian territory; serious, and even fatal, indispositions have been thus occasioned; and Dr. Barton records (in the American Phil. Tr. vol. v.) an extensive mortality which occurred near Philadelphia, in 1790, solely attributable to the use of honey obtained from Kalmia latifolia. Even mead thus incautiously prepared may produce calamitous results. It is on record that the Greeks, on their retreat after the death of the younger Cyrus, found a kind of honey at Trebisond, which proved so intoxicating that they lay on the ground as though completely discomfited. Pliny names this pernicious honey Manomenon, and supposes it to have been collected from a species of Rhododendron.-According to entomologists, when the stomach of a bee is filled with nectar, it next, by means of the feathered hairs with which the body is covered, pilfers from the flowers the fertilizing dust (pollen) of the anthers; which is equally necessary to the society with honey, and may be named the ambrosia of the hive, since from it the bee-bread is made. On this curious subject Aristotle stated, and some moderns have remarked, that instinct teaches the bee that grains of pollen that enter into

雌

Var. 3. Fl. amplo. Huds. Blossoms large.

Vaill. 32. 8—Riv. Mon. 42. 3, Serpyllum.—Pet. 31. 2.

Serpylli vulgaris secundum genus. R. Syn. 230-Serpyll. vulg. flore amplo. Vaill.

Var. 4. Latifol. Linn. Larger. Leaves broad.

Ger. 456. 3-Lob. Ic. i. 424. 1—Ger. Em. 573. 7—Park. 7. 7-Pet. 31. 3– Ger. Em. 570. 3.

Okey Hole, Somersetshire.

Serpyllum vulgare majus. R. Syn. 231.

Var. 5. Citratum. Lemon Thyme. Leaves with the scent of lemon peel.* Clus. i. 359.2-Dod. 277. 2-Ger. Em. 571. 7-Park. 8. 9—J. B. 270. 1— Ger. 458. 2-Pet. 31. 4.

Var. 6. Foliis nudis. Leaves narrow, smooth.
Sheldr. 52-Woodv. 110.
Boxley Hill, by Kitt's Coffee-house.
Var. 7. Incanus. Leaves hoary. Ray.

Vaill. 32. 6—Riv. Mon. 42. 1, Serp. mont. hirsut.

Gogmagog Hills, and other barren places.

Var. 8. Fruticosus. More shrubby: hairy. Blossoms pale red. Ray.
Pastures on the summit of y Wyddfa, on Snowdon, Carnarvonshire.
Var. 9. Inodorum. Hairy, small, creeping, scentless. Pluk.
Serpyllum hirsutum minus repens inodorum. R. Syn. 231.

Ireland.

T. A'CINOS. Flowers in whorls, one upon each fruit-stalk: stems upright, somewhat branched: leaves acute, serrated.

Dicks. H. S.-Curt.-(E. Bot. 411. E.)—Kniph. 8-Riv. Mon. 43. 2, Acinos.-Clus. i. 354. 1-Dod. 280-Lob. Obs. 270. 2, and Ic. i. 506. 1—Ger. Em. 675. 1-Park. 21. 1—H. Ox. xi. 18, row 1. 1-Pet. 32. 10-Fuchs. 896-J. B. iii. 259-Lonic. i. 116. 3-Fl. Dan. 814-Trag. 37-Ger. 548. 1-Matth. 815.

(Plant fragrant, aromatic. E.) Stems ascending, about a span high. Leaves in distant pairs. Woodw. Plant hairy. Calyx scored, protube

the same mass should be homogeneous; and thus, it is supposed, "Providence secures both the impregnation of those flowers that require such aid, by the bees passing from one to another; and avoids the production of hybrid plants, from the application of the pollen of one kind of plant to the stigma of another." E.) Swine refuse it. (Cattle in general avoid it. E.) Phalæna papilionaria lives upon it. (The cottony galls observable on this plant are attributable to a species of Tephritis; and occasion the woolly appearance, 46 capitulis tomentosis," Linn, and to which, from the same cause, several other plants are liable. Branches of Thyme strewed about articles liable to damage from mice are said to prevent their depredations: and probably sprinkling the essential oil might prove effectual. E.)

⚫ (This favourite variety is often cultivated in gardens for its peculiarly agreeable odour, and its use for culinary purposes. It continues to blossom late, and beds of it should be planted in every bee garden. It must be, like other accidental varieties, propagated by slips and cuttings; when raised from seeds the plants have not the fine scent. E.)

rent at the base. Blossoms about six in a whorl, bluish purple, middle segment slightly notched.

BASIL THYME. Dry hills, on chalk and gravel, Not unfrequent in Norfolk and Kent. Mr. Woodward. On the side of Hamilton, Yorkshire. Mr. Robson. Wick Cliffs, Glostershire. Mr. Swayne. St. Vincent's Rocks, Bristol. (Leckhampton Hill, two miles from Cheltenham. Rev. S. Dickenson. Fields near East Common wood, Hexham; and Dorking, Surry. Mr. Winch. Grafton and Rolls Wood fields, Warwickshire. Purton. E.) A. June-Aug. T. NEP'ETA. (Whorls many-flowered: E.) fruit-stalks axillary, forked, longer than the leaves: (leaves serrated: hairs in the mouth of the calyx prominent. E.)

Riv. Mon. 47-Gies. 1. 14—Curt.-(E. Bot. 1414. E.)-Blackw. 167Matth. 617-Dod. 98. 2—Lob. Obs. 275. 1, and Ic. i. 513. 2—Ger. Em. 687. 3-Park. 37. 4. a.

(Strong-scented; smaller than T. Calamintha. E.) Leaves in opposite six, pairs, nearly sessile, egg-shaped. Fruit-stalks, subdivided in three to each supporting a flower. Calyx coloured, ribbed, the outside having short hairs and shining glands, smooth within, but closed at the mouth with long hairs; the three upper teeth equal, the two lower rather longer, equal, and more pointed; ribs fifteen. Blossom pale bluish purple; lower lip with white club-shaped bristles at the base; lateral segments egg-shaped, the middle one kidney-shaped, toothed.

In a garden the leaves become six times as large as in the natural soil, but the flowers not larger, and the fruit-stalks shorter than the leaves. FIELD BAUM. (LESSER CALAMINT. T. Nepeta. Sm. Relh. Hook. Calamentha fol. incano. Riv. Melissa Nepeta. Linn. Curt. Willd. With. Ed. 4. E.) Sides of roads, corn-fields, and hedge banks. Norfolk, frequent. Mr. Woodward. (About Hastings Castle. Mr. Borrer. Near Tunbridge Wells. Mr. Forster. Hedge on the right, just below the Kennet Bell, Suffolk. Sir T. G. Cullum. In the old sandpits at the back of Charlton Church, Kent. Curtis. Common in Essex. South Normanton, Derbyshire. Pilkington. Denbigh Castle; and Craig near Denbigh. Mr. Griffith. Neighbourhood of Malton, Yorshire. Teesdale, in Bot. Guide. E.) P. Aug.t

(T. CALAMIN'THA. Whorls many-flowered: E.) fruit-stalks axillary, forked, as long as the leaves: (leaves slightly serrated: hairs of the calyx not prominent. E.)

Kniph. 4-Ludw. 33-Riv. Mon. 46. 2—(E. Bot. 1676. E.)-Dod. 98. 1— Lob. Obs. 274. 2, and Ic. i. 513. 1-Ger. Em. 687. 3-Park. 36-H. Or. xi. 21, row 2. 3—Pet. 34. 1-Blackw. 166—Matth. 716—Ger. 552. 1. (Whole herbage downy. Stem erect, bushy. Leaves an inch long, marked with pellucid dots, paler underneath; sometimes entire, or nearly so. E.) Leaves in opposite pairs on leaf-stalks. Fruit-stalks three-forked, the lateral arms forked. Calyx with thirteen ribs, short hair, and shining

(Under an erroneous notion that this plant produces no seeds, the ancients applied to it the name xuvos (Acinos), sine semine, sterilis. E.)

(A warm, pungent, medicinal plant, recommended in infusion as a stomachic and deobstruent. E.) Cassida viridis feeds upon it.

globules; segments fringed, and the mouth closed with long hairs; teeth pointing upwards after the blossom falls off, the three upper equal, the two lower longer, and more pointed. Blossom tube with white clubshaped hairs; upper lip lilac-coloured within; lower lip pale, but marked with three round spots, and a few short streaks of a deeper hue. Summit one segment greatly longer than the other, and hooked. (Blossom twice the length of the calyx. E.)

COMMON CALAMINT. BAUM. (Irish: Luss na beag. Welsh: Erbin cyffredin. T. Calamintha. Scop. Relh. Sm. Melissa Calamintha. Linn. Huds. With. Ed. 4. Purt. Calamentha. Riv. E.) Sides of roads and corn-fields. Dudley Castle. Near Tamworth Castle. Banks of the Avon, near Bristol. (About Dorking. Mr. Winch. On the higher parts of Penmon parish, and Llangoed, Anglesey. Welsh Bot. Road sides, Chudleigh, Devon. Rev. J. Pike Jones; and by the side of the road between Shaldon and Mary-Church. E.) P. June-Aug.* MELIT TIS.+ Calyx wider than the tube of the blossom: Bloss. upper lip flat, entire; lower lip trifid: Anthers each pair forming a cross.

M. MELISSOPHYLLUM.

(E. Bot. 577. E.)—Jacq. Austr. 26—Kniph. 6—Riv. Mon. 21-Lob. Obs 277. 2, and Ic. i. 515. 1-Ger. Em. 690. 3. f. 1-Park. 41. 4-Fuchs. 498 —J. B. iii. 233. 2—Trag. 12—Clus. ii. 37. 2-Cam. Hort. 30—J. B. ib. 1.

Calyx upright, three-cleft; the upper segment often marked with a small tooth on each side. Blossom white; tube twice as long as the calyx; border with four divisions, expanding, consisting of an upper lip roundish, upright, entire; and a lower lip with three clefts, the middlemost larger, flat, entire, purple. Anthers yellow, shorter than the blossom. Linn. Stem some what square, scored, hairy. Calyx hairy below, nearly smooth above, large, veined and tipped with purple. Woodw. Whole plant hairy. Leaves opposite, egg-spear-shaped, wrinkled, serrated, the teeth terminating in purplish glands. Fruit-stalks from the bosom of the leaves, two or three together, not expanding altogether. Calyx, border on the upper side turned outwards like a spout, with a spear-shaped segment on each side, the lower lip cut off and finely serrated. Blossom white, stained with purple, except the middle segment of the lower lip, which is full purple edged with white.

(On further examination of specimens from Devonshire and other parts, we much doubt the permanency of any specific distinction in Smith's M. grandiflora; (E. Bot. 636-Curt.-Mill. Ill.-Ger. Em. 690. 3. f. 2 -said to grow in most coppices of Devon and Cornwall; as the road-side between Liskeard and Callington, and a mile from Ashburton on the road to Plymouth.) The character attempted to be established, of "Calyx

All the plants of this genus yield a fragrant, aromatic odour, and an essential oil. (they are said to make agreeable tea, of somewhat tonic effect: and to them not improperly may be applied the encomium upon their congener:

"And Balm that never ceases uttering sweets."

Or metaphorically,

“A tender smile, our sorrow's only Balm.” E.)

✦ (From μexitra, a bee; it being productive of honey, and grateful to that in sect. E.)