Subfamily

VII. Subfam. Nepetoideae (Dumort.) Luerss. (1882).

VII. 2. Tribe Mentheae Dumort. (1827).

VII. 2. B. Subtribe Menthinae (Dumort.) Endl. (1838).

Description

Rhizomatous or stoloniferous perennial herbs, weakly to strongly aromatic; leaves petiolate, ovate to lanceolate or elliptic, serrate to serrulate; inflorescence a verticillastrate thyrse of terminal and subterminal glomerules; bracts ovate to lanceolate, forming an involucre subtending inflorescence; flowers subsessile; bracteoles absent; calyx zygomorphic, not accrescent, cylindrical, 13-nerved, 5-lobed (3/2), lobes lanceolate-attenuate to subulate, setose, posterior lobes partially fused to form long upper lip, anterior lobes shorter, free above tube, throat sparsely hairy; corolla purple to white, 2-lipped (1/3), posterior lip entire, anterior lip 3-lobed, median lobe narrower than other 2, tube curved, corolla in bud falcate; stamens 2 fertile (posterior pair reduced to staminodes), exserted, filaments glabrous, thecae divaricate, separate at dehiscence; stigma-lobes unequal; disc symmetrical; nutlets ellipsoid to ovoid, obscurely trigonal, smooth, glabrous. Three species, eastern North America.

Distribution

Native to:

72 Eastern Canada
74 North-Central U.S.A.
75 Northeastern U.S.A.
77 South-Central U.S.A.
78 Southeastern U.S.A.

Publication

Blephilia Raf., Amer. Monthly Mag. & Crit. Rev. 4: 190 (1819); Simmers & Kral, Rhodora 94: 1-14 (1992).

Image resource

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