A flora of Manila - Rainforestation

LABIATAE 411
the filaments bearded. Style 2-fid. Nutlets ovoid or oblong, smooth.
(Greek "beard" and "stamen.")
Species about 35, tropical Asia and Malaya, about 7 in the Philippines.
1. P. cablin (Blanco) Benth. Cablin, Cadling, Cadlom (Tag.); Patchouli.
An erect, branched, pubescent herb 0.5 to 1 m high, aromatic when crush-
ed. Leaves ovate to oblong-ovate, acute or obtuse, 5 to 11 cm long, usually
coarsely and doubly toothed or crenate. Spikes terminal and axillary,
panicled, dense, sometimes interrupted, 2 to 8 cm long, 1 to 1.5 cm in diameter
pubescent. Calyx about 6 mm long. Corolla pink-purple, 8 mm long, the
lobes obtuse. Bracts about as long as the calyx.
Occasionally cultivated for its fragrant leaves, fl. Jan.-Feb. ; in and
about towns in Luzon and probably in other islands, cultivated and wild.
India to Malaya, chiefly cultivated. This species yields the patchouli perfume
of commerce.
7. MENTHA Linnaeus
Very aromatic perennial plants from prostrate rootstocks. Leaves ovate
to oblong-ovate. Flowers small, in many-flowered whorls in axillary and
terminal spikes. Calyx campanulate or tubular, 5-toothed, the throat
naked or villous. Corolla subequally 4-lobed. Stamens 4, equal, erect.
Nutlets smooth or reticulate. (From a Greek nymph of that name.)
Species about 25 in the north-temperate zone, introduced in many other
regions, 2 in the Philippines.
*1. M. ARVENSIS L. Yerba buena (Sp.) ; Mint.
A prostrate, glabrous, or slightly hairy, strongly aromatic, much branched
herb, the stems up to 40 cm long, usually purplish, the ultimate branches
ascending. Leaves elliptic- to oblong-ovate, short-petioled, serrate, rounded
or obtuse, 1.5 to 4 cm long. Flowers in axillary, capitate whorls, the
calyx-teeth triangular or lanceolate, hairy, the corolla also hairy.
Commonly cultivated, but not spontaneous. Introduced from Europe and
here rarely or never flowering; its natural range is from Europe through
northern Asia to China.
8. ANISOMELES R. Brown
Coarse, erect, branched herbs. Flowers in axillary whorls, or the whorls
arranged in stout, terminal, more or less interrupted racemes. Calyx
ovoid, equally 5-toothed, straight. Corolla-tube short, the upper lip erect,
entire, the lower broad, spreading, the middle lobe notched. Stamens exserted,
the anthers conniving. Style equally 2-fid. Nutlets smooth.
(Greek "unequal" and "members," in reference to the unequal corolla-lips.)
Species about 8, tropical Asia to Australia, 1 in the Philippines.
1. A. INDICA (L.) O. Kuntze (A. ovata R. Br.). Paling-harap (Tag.).
An erect, branched, annual herb 1 to 2 m high, more or less tomentose.
Leaves ovate, long-petioled, thin, 3 to 12 cm long, acuminate, crenate or
crenate-serrate. Whorls many-flowered, in dense or interrupted, stout,
spike-like racemes, 5 to 25 cm long, 2 to 3 cm in diameter, the lower
whorls in the leaf-axils. Calyx about G mm long, hairy, the teeth acuminate.
Corolla purplish, 10 to 12 mm long.
In open waste places, San Juan del Monte, fl. Dec. -Feb.; widely distributed
in the Philippines, but certainly not indigenous. India to China
and Malaya.