Lamiaceae (lay-mee-AY-see-ee)
Iconic Features
- Stems usually square
- Leaves simple and generally opposite
- Leaves usually strongly scented
- Flower a two-lipped tube
Description (Jepson)
- Eudicotyledons (eudicots) – a major lineage of flowering plants including most plants traditionally described as dicots and generally characterized by
- 2 seed leaves (dicotyledon)
- Netted (reticulate) leaf venation
- Flower parts in fours and fives
- Pollen grains with 3 pores (tricolpate)
- Vascular bundles in stem arranged in a ring
- Taproot system
- Annuals, herbaceous perennials, and shrubs
- Stems usually 4-sided (square in cross-section), though not all square-stemmed plants are mints
- Bee plant (Scrophularia californica), in the Figwort family, has square stems
- Leaves
- Generally simple (not divided into leaflets), though can be deeply lobed
- Generally opposite (2 leaves at each junction with stem) and decussate (alternate pairs perpendicular to each other)
- Usually with glands that produce a strong scent
- Flowers
- Inflorescence (flower arrangement) in dense heads or whorled (3 or more leaves/flowers at stem junction) at distinct intervals along the stem, like a fancy-trimmed poodle tail
- Tubular flowers are usually bilaterally symmetrical and 2-lipped with 2 fused upper petals and 3 fused lower petals
- Ovary superior (above the attachment of other flower parts)
- Usually 4 stamens, which are exerted (extending beyond petals), with 1 pair longer than the other
- Fruit a set of 4 single-seeded nutlets (a small, dry fruit that does not split open, derived from a multi-chambered ovary); not all may mature
Notes
- Approximately 7,200 species worldwide
- Includes yerba buena, hedge nettles, and pitcher sage
- Also includes many cultivated herbs with culinary and medicinal uses, e.g. chia, lavender, basil, oregano, peppermint, rosemary, and thyme
- Scientific name from the included genus Lamium, from the Latin for “mint”
- Represented by 12 species at Edgewood
General References
Calflora Database. 2014. Berkeley, California.
Calscape. 2018. California Native Plant Society.
Charters, M.L. 2015. California Plant Names: Latin and Greek Meanings and Derivations.
Charters, M.L. 2017. Southern California Wildflowers: Guide to the Pronunciation of Specific, Generic and Family Names.
Corelli, T. 2004. Flowering Plants of Edgewood Natural Preserve (2nd. ed.). Monocot Press, Half Moon Bay, California.
Elpel, T.J. 2013. Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification. HOPS Press, Pony, Montana.
Flora of North America. efloras.org.
Harris, J.G., and M.W. Harris. 2013. Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary. Spring Lake Publishing, Spring Lake, Utah.
Keator, G. 2009. California Plant Families. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California.
Native American Ethnobotany DB.
Regents of the University of California. Jepson eFlora. Jepson Herbarium. University of California, Berkeley.
Browse Some Edgewood Plants in this Family
