spikes. Calyx campanulate or tubular, 5-toothed, throat naked or villous. Corolla-tube short, not exceeding the calyx; limb 4-lobed; lobes nearly equal or the upper one broader. Stamens 4, equal, erect, distant; filaments glabrous; anther-cells 2, parallel. Style shortly bifid. Nutlets dry, ovoid, smooth, not bordered.
A widely spread genus, most abundant in Europe and northern Asia, where the species are highly variable and difficult of discrimination. The single New Zealand species is found nowhere else. Several of the European species have established themselves as weeds or garden-escapes, especially the pennyroyal (M. pulegium), corn-mint (M. arvensis), peppermint (M. piperita), and spearmint (M. viridis). Descriptions of these will be found in any English Flora.
1. M. Cunninghamii, Benth. in D.C. Prodr. xii. 174.—A fragrant perennial herb. Rhizome slender, wiry, prostrate, much branched, often matted; stems numerous from the rhizome, diffusely branched, pubescent, 2–12 in. long. Leaves shortly petiolate or nearly sessile, ⅙–½ in. long, broadly ovate or almost orbicular, obtuse, entire or with an obscure notch on each side, glandular-dotted. Flowers small, white, axillary, usually solitary but sometimes 2–3 in each axil; peduncles slender, variable in length. Calyx about ⅛ in. long, tubular-campanulate, densely hairy; teeth villous within. Corolla-lobes almost equal, flat, spreading, upper one shortly bifid. Stamens equalling the corolla or slightly exserted.—Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. i. 205; Handb. N.Z. Fl. 225. M. consimilis, Col. in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xviii. (1886) 264. Micromeria Cunninghamii, Benth. Lab. Gen. et Sp. 730; A. Cunn. Precur. n. 391; Raoul, Choix, 43.
North and South Islands, Chatham Islands: Abundant throughout, in rather dry open grassy places. Sea-level to 4500 ft.
2. SCUTELLARIA, Linn.
Annual or perennial herbs or undershrubs. Flowers solitary or in pairs, axillary or in terminal racemes or spikes. Calyx campanulate, 2-lipped; lips entire, closed in fruit, the upper one bearing on its back a broad concave deciduous scale. Corolla-tube long, dilated above; limb 2-lipped, the upper one concave, entire or eraarginate, the lower convex, dilated, 3-lobed. Stamens 4, didynamous; anthers conniving in pairs, ciliate, lower 1-celled, upper 2-celled. Upper lobe of the style very short. Nutlets small, granular-tuberculate or smooth.
A large genus of about 100 species, found in most parts of the world, but most abundant in America. The New Zealand species is endemic, but is closely allied to the Australian S. humilis, R. Br.
1. S. novæ-zealandiæ, Hook. f. Fl. Nov. Zel. ii. 335.—Stems slender, creeping and rooting at the base, erect or ascending above, sparingly branched, sparsely pilose or almost glabrous, 5–15 in. high. Leaves in distant pairs, on slender petioles ¼–¾ in. long; blade
