Page:Wayside and Woodland Blossoms.djvu/76

 nettles (see page ). In the absence of flowers the difference may be quickly seen by cutting the stems across, when Urtica will exhibit a round solid section, whilst Lamium is square and tubular. The flowers, like those of Bugle (page ) and Meadow- Sage (p. ) are labiate, and are produced in whorls. The calyx is tubular, with five teeth. The corolla tubular, with dilated throat, whence the name from Laimos (Gr.), throat. The British species are five:&mdash;

Trailing among the grass of the copse and hedgebank the Ground Ivy is one of the earliest of flowers to appear in spring. It has not the remotest relationship to the real ivy (Hedera helix), but, like the Dead Nettle, is a labiate plant. The slender square stem creeps along, and wherever it puts forth a pair of leaves it sends down a tuft of fibrous roots also. The leaves are roundish, kidney-shaped, deeply round-toothed on the margin. The flowers are borne in the axils of leaf-like bracts. The corolla-tube is long, slender at base, afterwards dilating. Some of the purple-blue flowers are large and perfect, others small and devoid of stamens. March to June. There is a closely allied, but rare, species called the Catmint (N. cataria)