M E L I T T I S grandiflora.
Purple and white Bajlard-Balm.
D I D Y N A M 1 A G y m n o f p e r m i a .
G en. Char. Cal. unequal, wider than the tube of
the corolla. Cor. upper lip flat; lower three-lobed,
crenate. Anthera cohering crofs-wife.
Spec. Char. Calyx four-lobed.
S y n . Melittis Meliflophyllum. Curt. Land. fafc. 6,
t. 39. Mill. Ulujlr. t. $2.
Melifla Fuchfii flore albo. Ger. em. 690.
IT H great pleafure we here confirm the fufpicion advanced
in p. 377 of this work, that there are two fpecies of
Melittis natives of England. The wild fpecimen here delineated
was gathered in the middle of June laft by Mr. D. Turner and
Mr. Sowerby, who found the plant in great plenty about a
mile from Afhburton in the road towards Plymouth, and alfo
in Cornwall. This is what Mr. Curtis has publifhed as the
real M. Melijfophyllum. It is indeed not very different from
that fpecies in habit, fcent, or form of leaves; but the flowers
afford fufficient marks of diftin&ion. The calyx is four-lobed,
having on each fide 3 lateral not vertical lobes, fometimes
notched, but more generally entire. Corolla larger than in
the other kind, white, with a pale tinge of yellow in the upper
part, the upper lip flightly emargina'te, the lower marked with
a large undivided purple or violet-coloured fpot, furrounded by
a white margin.
This is an ornamental plant, eafily cultivated in a moift or
fhady lituation. /7JpJstd//j/i-e2ey