LAMIACEAE  

Perennial, erect herbs or soft shrubs. Leaves sometimes whorled, toothed or crenate. Inflorescences terminal on main or lateral branches; verticils densely crowded; flowers blue or mauve, rarely whitish; bracts small, distinct from leaves. Calyx subequally 5-toothed; teeth subulate, rigid, spinescent. Corolla bilabiate; tube cylindric below, enlarging near throat, deflexed; upper lip 4-lobed, shorter than the lower; lower lip large, boat-shaped. Stamens 4, didynamous, declinate, arising in corolla throat and lying in lower lip; filaments shortly united at base. Disc produced in front. Style slender, shortly 2-fid at apex, slightly exceeding stamens in length. Nutlets ovoid, black or brown. x = 17 (polyploidy).

Annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs; stems and leaves herbaceous, semisucculent or succulent. Leaves mostly crenate-dentate. Inflorescences usually terminal, spike-like or paniculate; flowers in verticils, few-flowered cymes or dichasia, or occasionally solitary; bracts small, clearly differentiated from leaves. Calyx 2-lipped to subequally 5-toothed; when 2-lipped, upper lip consisting of a large single tooth, lower lip of 4 lanceolate-deltoid to subulate teeth; tube glabrous or villous within, sometimes gibbous at base. Corolla bilabiate; tube usually bent and variously expanded near base, occasionally expanding gradually, rarely straight; upper lip usually 4-lobed, shorter than lower boat-shaped lip. Stamens 4, rarely 2 abortive, arising at corolla mouth, free or united in a sheath at base, declinate in lower lip of corolla; anthers 1-thecous. Style lying with stamens in lower lip of corolla; stigma shortly 2-lobed. Nutlets ovoid or oblong, smooth. x = 6, 7 (11, 13, 15, 17) (polyploidy).

Herbs or soft shrublets. Leaves dentate to entire. Inflorescences terminal, spike-like, on main and lateral branches in upper part of plant; flowers shortly pedicellate in usually 6-flowered verticils; bracts much smaller than leaves; pedicels ascending. Calyx bilabiate, 5-toothed; tube short, campanulate; upper tooth much larger than the rest, broadly ovate to subrotund, decurrent on tube; two lateral teeth small, subulate; two lower teeth fused, forming an oblong, emarginate or 2-toothed lip. Corolla small, bilabiate, mauve to whitish; tube campanulate, slightly concave. Stamens 4, didynamous, shortly exserted; upper pair arising near base of corolla tube, kneed and with a tuft of hairs near base of filaments; lower pair arising in corolla mouth; anthers 1-thecous. Disc saucer-shaped, 4-lobed. Ovary glabrous; style exserted; stigma shortly 2-lobed. Nutlets globose, mucilaginous when wetted. x = 8 (6, 9, 11, 13) (aneuploids, high polyploidy, B-chromosomes).

Aromatic herbs, glabrous or pubescent. Leaves usually toothed. Inflorescences terminal on main and lateral branches, spike-like, verticils crowded, many-flowered; flowers small; bracts leaf-like to smaller than leaves; bracteoles linear. Calyx 10-nerved, subequally 5-toothed, scarcely accrescent. Corolla slightly longer than calyx, obscurely bilabiate, 4-lobed; tube funnel-shaped. Stamens 4, arising at middle of corolla tube, subequal, spreading, normally exserted (shorter when abortive); filaments linear; anthers 2-thecous. Disc shallowly lobed. Style linear, exserted, shortly 2-fid. Nutlets ovoid, smooth or reticulate. x = 6 (8, 10) (aneuploids, high polyploidy).

Annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs. Leaves thin or thick-textured, entire or toothed. Inflorescences usually simple, of few to many, spaced or fairly crowded verticils; verticils 2-many-flowered, often in glomerate clusters; bracts leaf-like, often smaller towards apex of inflorescence; bracteoles linear, ascending, small or conspicuous. Calyx shorter or longer than corolla tube, tubular or tubular-campanulate, rarely inflated, 10-nerved, straight or curved, sometimes oblique at mouth; teeth 5-10, equal or unequal, often spine-tipped. Corolla bilabiate, white; tube tubular, widening above, sometimes shortly constricted at base, annular-pilose or annular-papillose within, rarely glabrous; upper ascending or spreading, concave or flattish, entire or rarely emarginate or 2-lobed, longer than, subequal to or shorter than lower lip, usually with stiff brush-like hairs; lower lip spreading or deflexed, 3-lobed, median lobe the largest. Stamens 4, didynamous, lower pair longer than upper, ascending under the upper lip, included or shortly exserted; anthers approximate in pairs, 2-thecous with the thecae divaricate and finally confluent. Style terete, ascending under upper lip, unequally 2-lobed at apex. Nutlets ovoid-triquetrous, smooth, obtuse or somewhat flattened at apex. x = 11, 7 (polyploidy).