Lamiaceae - Mint and basil family

Trees, shrubs or annual or perennial herbs, usually with square stems. Stipules 0. Leaves opposite or whorled, rarely alternate (e.g. Aeollanthus subacaulis), usually gland-dotted and aromatic. Infl. cymose, borne in the axils of opposite bracts, usually much condensed so that the two opposite cymes form a whorl-like infl. (referred to as a whorl in this account); rarely the flowers are solitary in the axil of each bract. The whorls are often close together so that they form spikes or heads. Flowers hypogynous, zygomorphic, usually 2-lipped, bisexual (unisexual in Tetradenia). Bracts present. Calyx usually 5-toothed, often 2-lipped. Corolla gamopetalous, basically 5-lobed but often 2-lipped with the 2 upper lobes and the 3 lower lobes united. Stamens rarely 2, usually 4. Ovary superior, 4-locular; style often 2-lobed, usually gynobasic. Fruit consisting of 4 dry, 1-seeded nutlets.

Comment: Can be recognised by the 4 nutlets, a character also possessed by the Boraginaceae, but these usually have actinomorphic flowers and alternate leaves. The family is often similar in appearance to the Acanthaceae but these have fruits which are capsules.

Worldwide: 251 genera and 6,700 species, cosmopolitan, but especially from the Mediterranean to C Asia; very rare in New Zealand.