DICTAMNUS, WHITE DITTANY, or Fraxinella: A genus of the monogynia order, belonging to the decandria class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 26th order, Multiflorum. The calyx is pentaphyllous; the petals are five, and patulous; the filaments sprinkled with glandulous points; the capsules five, coalited. There is only one species. It hath thick, penetrating, perennial roots, collected into a head at top, sending up erect stalks annually, two or three feet high, garnished with pinnate alternate leaves, of three or four pair of oblong stiff lobes, terminated by an odd one; and the stalks crowned by long, pyramidal, loose spikes of flowers, of white, red, and purple colours. They are very ornamental plants, and succeed in any of the common borders. The dittany which grows in Crete, Dalmatia, and the Morea, forms an article in the materia medica. The leaves, which are the only parts used, are imported from Italy. The best sort are well covered over with a thick white down, and now and then intermixed with purplish flowers. In smell and taste they somewhat resemble lemon-thyme, but have more of an aromatic flavour, as well as a greater degree of pungency; when fresh, they yield a considerable quantity of an excellent essential oil.