Ziziphora
(from Zizi, which is said to be the Indian name of the flower, and phoreo, I bear). ORD. Labiatoe. A genus comprising about a dozen species of hardy, dwarf, annual herbs or diffuse sub-shrubs, inhabiting Central and Western Asia, and the South Mediterranean region. Flowers small, sub-sessile, or on short pedicels; calyx tubular, elongated, bilabiate; corolla tube scarcely exserted, the upper lip erect and entire, the lower one spreading and three-cleft; perfect stamens two; whorls few-flowered, axillary, clustered on the upper part of the stem. Leaves small, entire or few-toothed; floral ones conformed or slightly shorter and broader. The best-known species are here described. Both are half-hardy sub-shrubs, and thrive in any good, light soil. Propagation may be effected by cuttings.
Z. clinopodioides (Clinopodium-like). fl. blue-purple; corolla nearly twice as long as the calyx; whorls few, six to ten-flowered, approximating in a rather loose, sub-globose head. June. l. at length nearly all ovate, the upper ones narrow, oblong, or ovate, 1/2in. long, narrowed to short petioles. Branches diffuse, 6in. to 12in. long, often purplish. Siberia, 1821. Z. c. media (intermediate). fl., calyx pilose. l. mostly narrow. (B. M. 906, under name of Z. serpyllacea.) Z. dasyantha (thick-flowered). fl. red; calyx very pilose-hispid; corolla shorter than in Z. clinopodioides; whorls approximating in an oblong head, or the lower ones distinct. July. l. ovate or oblong; floral ones conformed. h. 6in. Siberia, 1803. (B. M. 1093, under name of Z. Pouschkini.)