Origanum spicis tetragonis: bracteis sub-rotundis, maximis: foliis geminis, oppositis, alternis, cordatis, punctatis, glaucis.
Habitat in Magna Græcia.
Origanum with a four-sided spike: floral leaves nearly round, and large. Leaves by pairs, opposite and alternate, heart-shaped, dotted, and glaucous.
Native of Greece.
REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.
1. A flower.
2. The same spread without the cup.
3. Seed-bud and pointal.
This species of Origanum was first discovered by Tournefort, who, in his travels in the Levant, describes it as one of the rarest plants in all the Archipelago; native of Amorgos, and only to be found in the clefts or rents of a hideous rock that overhangs the sea. At the bottom of this rock stands a convent of the Virgin, a large house resembling a chest of drawers, and to which there is no entrance but by a ladder of a dozen wooden steps through a small opening in one of the corners, the door of which is covered with iron plates. This frightful promontory is naturally perpendicular, and said to exceed in height that of La Sainte Baume in Provence.[Pg 91]
[Pg 92]