Origanum
(the ancient Greek name, used by Hippocrates). Marjoram. Including Majorana. ORD. Labiatoe. A genus comprising about twenty-five species of mostly hardy sub-shrubs or herbaceous perennials, for the most part natives of the Mediterranean region, one being indigenous to the Canary Islands, and two or three broadly dispersed over Europe and extra-tropical Asia. Corolla tube included or exserted; limb bilabiate; whorls two, rarely six to ten, flowered, crowded in globose, oblong or cylindrical spikelets, which are solitary or aggregate at the tips of the branches. Leaves small, entire or slightly toothed; floral ones all reduced to bracts. Few of the species have any ornamental value, but the undermentioned are worth growing. For cultivation of O. Majorana, see Marjoram. All the other species here mentioned are easily raised from seeds, or from cuttings of the young, growing, barren shoots; or by division of the roots. They like a rather dry, warm, well-drained border, and succeed in almost any soil.
O. Dictamnus (Dittany). Dittany of Crete. fl. pink, in drooping heads. Summer. l. broad-ovate, obtuse, quite entire, rounded at the base, thick, clothed with dense wool on both surfaces. Branches ascending. h. 1ft. Crete, 1551. A very pretty, but rather tender little sub-shrub. (B. M. 298.) O. Majorana. Garden, Knotted, or Sweet Marjoram. fl. purplish or white; spikelets oblong, sessile, glomerate on the branchlets. June. l. petiolate, oblong-ovate, obtuse, quite entire, tomentose on both surfaces. Branches nearly glabrous, racemosely panicled. h. 1ft. to 2ft. North Africa, 1573. SYNS. O. majoranoides and Majorana hortensis. See also Marjoram. O. majoranoides (Marjoram-like). A synonym of O. Majorana. O. Maru (mastic), of Sims. A synonym of O. microphyllum. O. microphyllum (small-leaved). fl. pink; spikelets few, globose, disposed in small, loose corymbs at the tips of the branches. June. l. small, remote, petiolate, broadly ovate, obtuse, round at base. Branches purplish, smooth, filiform. h. 1ft. Crete, &c. Sub-shrub. (B. M. 2605, and S. F. G. 573, under name of O. Maru.) O. Onites (Onites). Pot Marjoram. fl. whitish; spikelets small, ovoid, numerous, densely corymbose. Summer. l. sessile, ovate, serrated a little, rather villous or tomentose. Stems erect, nearly simple, hairy. h. 1ft. Mediterranean region, 1759. Subshrub. (S. F. G. 572.) O. sipyleum (Mount Sipylos). fl. pink; spikelets oblong, solitary, or by threes, drooping. Summer. l. on short pedicels, quite entire; lower ones roundish, hispid or woolly; upper ones ovate, glaucous. Stem decumbent, paniculately branched at top. h. 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. Levant, 1699. A very pretty procumbent subshrub. (S. F. G. 570.) O. Tournefortii (Tournefort's). Dittany of Amorgos. fl. pink; spikes more dense than in O. Dictamnus. August. l. sessile, orbiculate, sub-cordate at base. h. 1ft. Amorgos, 1788. Sub-shrub. (A. B. R. 537; S. F. G. 569.) O. vulgare (common). Common or Wild Marjoram. fl. purple; spikelets oblong or cylindrical, glomerate, corymbosely panicled. Summer. l. petiolate, ovate, obtuse, serrated a little, rounded at the base. Stem erect, villous, herbaceous. h. 1ft. to 2ft. Europe, &c. (Britain). (B. M. Pl. 204.)