Micromeria
(from mikros, small, and meris, a part; referring to the usually diminutive flowers). SYNS. Piperella, Sabbatia (of Moench), and Tendana. ORD. Labiatae. A genus comprising about sixty species of hardy or half-hardy sub-shrubs or herbs, dispersed over nearly all the temperate and warmer parts of the globe, but occurring in the greatest abundance in the Mediterranean region. Flowers purplish or white, generally small; whorls axillary or spicate, rarely cyme-formed, sub-panicled. Leaves opposite. With few exceptions, the species are of no horticultural value. M. Piperella is a pretty little rock plant. It thrives in any common garden soil, and may be increased by cuttings.
M. Piperella (Piperella).* fl., fascicles few-flowered, the common peduncle nearly as long as the floral leaves; calyx tubular, pubescent, thirteen-ribbed; teeth subulate; throat hairy within; corolla pubescent, twice the length of the calyx. August to October. l. ovate, sometimes cordate at the base. h. 3in. Southwest Europe. Half-hardy sub-shrub. (Fl. Ment. 32.)