E. Bot. 686.

Stem nearly three feet high, upright, leafy, quadrangular, rough with hairs pointing downwards. Leaves sessile, opposite, varying in figure and breadth. Spikes terminal, panicled, sharpish, composed of numerous dense whorls, with but little space between even the lowermost: each whorl accompanied by a pair of tapering, projecting, awl-shaped floralleaves, the lowermost of which are dilated at the base. Calyx small, hairy all over with tapering teeth, longer than the tube. Blossom twice as long as the calyx, hairy, of a pale lilac colour. Stamens inclosed within the blossom. The whole herb has a strong aromatic smell, is of a hoary or greyish green, and clothed with soft hairs.

Var. 1. Leaves spear-shaped, acute.

M. sylvestris. Linn.—M. villosa prima, Sole. Menth. 3. t. 1—Dod. 96—Ger. Em. 684. 3-J. B. iii. 221.

Var. 2. Leaves egg-shaped, acute.

M. villosa secunda, Sole. Menth. 5. t. 2—Fl. Dan. 484—Riv. Mon. 51. 1– Fuchs. 292-Cam. Epit. 479.

By the water side at Bottisham Load mill, Cambridgeshire; in the houseclose of an Inn at Hillington, Middlesex. Frequent in Hertfordshire. Sole.

Var. 3. Leaves shorter; spikes blunter. Plentiful in Kent.

Var. 4. Leaves elliptical, broad, and blunt.

M. rotundifolia, Sole. Menth. 9. t. 4-Fuchs. 289.

In Kent and Essex, but rare. Eleven miles from Norwich in the road to Hingham. Mr. Crowe. At Thorpe, near Norwich. E.)

HORSE MINT. Marshy and watery places. Burwelbeck. Lincolnshire; behind the alms-houses at Great Yeldham, Essex. Lewisham, Kent; between Ripley and Guildford. Bungay, frequent. Mr. Woodward. Thorn, Yorkshire. Mr. Robson. P. Aug. (M. ROTUNDIFO'LIA. Spikes somewhat hairy, interrupted: leaves roundish, blunt, wrinkled, scolloped, downy beneath: floralleaves spear-shaped. E.)

E. Bot. 446-Sole. Menth. 7. t. 3-Riv. Mon. 51. 2—J. B. iii. 219. 2. Leaves rather serrated than scolloped. Whole plant woolly, grass green. Flowers pale red, much resembling those of the preceding species. Stems two to three feet high, upright, square, hairy or shaggy, the hairs pointing more or less downwards. Leaves underside shaggy, not hairy; all the veins fringed with close hairs. Spikes several, terminal, upright, sharpish, not very densely whorled. Calyx small, bell-shaped, covered with rough hairs. Stamens much longer than the blossom. The whole herb strong smelling, and tending to viscidity. Leaves occasionally variegated with white. E.)

ROUND-LEAVED MINT. (Welsh: Mintys lledcrynddail. E.) M. rotun◄ difolia. M. crispa. Linn. M. sylvestris. Sole. Watery places. River side, at Lydbrook, near Ross, Hertfordshire; near Falkburn Hall, Essex. Ray. Near Hally, Kent. Doody. Hornsey and Harefield churchyards. Blackstone. Near Saltburn, Yorkshire, by the sea, in a dry sandy place. Mr. Robson. (On the edge of an old moat at Shingham, Norfolk.

Rev. R. Forby. Waste places at North Bovey, Devon. Rev. J. P. Jones. Lowdore, Cumberland; Studley Woods, Yorkshire. Mr. Winch. About Lanvayer, and on the side of the road from Abergavenny to Monmouth, near to the last town. Purton. By the road side in Llanfairynghornwy, Anglesey. Welsh Bot. E.) P. Aug. M. VIR'IDIS. Spikes interrupted: leaves spear-shaped, naked, serrated, pointed, sessile: (floral-leaves bristle-shaped, somewhat hairy, as well as the teeth of the calyx: flower-stalks very smooth. E.) (Sole Menth. 11. t. 5—E. Bot. 2424. E.)-Woodv. 170-Cam. Epit. 477— Ger. 552. 2—Dod. 95. 4-Lob. Obs. 271. 4, and Ic. i. 508. 1-Ger. Em. 680. 4-Park. 31—Dod. 95. 3—Lob. Obs. 271. 3, and Ic. i. 507. 2—Ger. Em. 680. 3-Pet. 31. 7—Fuchs. 290—J. B. iii. 220—Trag. 20. 2—Lonic. i. 113. 2-Matth. 712.

Leaves strap-spear-shaped. Spikes of flowers much longer than broad. (Stem two or three feet high, upright, smooth, sharply angular, branched, often tinged with purple. Flower-stalks and tube of the calyx perfectly smooth, though the teeth of the latter are not always free from hairiness. Floral-leaves generally ciliated. Flowers of a bright red colour, dotted within. Stamens tipped with red knobs. E.)

Var. 2. Stem red, taller, thicker, and stronger, and divided at the top into more flowering branches. Leaves blacker, shorter, and not so taperpointed, appearing blunter, more wrinkled, teeth not so fine. Flowers smaller and paler. Scent stronger, and not so agreeable. Ray.—(Teeth of the calyx fringed with hairs. E.)

Pluk. Mant. 129.

By the river side at Bocking, Essex. Dale. On the river Medway, near
Maidstone. Plukenet. At Babergh, near Norwich. Mr. Pitchford.
Var. 3. Narrow-leaved, smooth, with a broader spike; teeth of the calyx
fringed with longer and more numerous hairs.

Bauh. Pin. 227.

In a meadow at Bocking. Dale.

Var. 4. Spike smooth; leaves broader; teeth of the calyx fringed with hairs.

(M. sativa of Pharm. Lond. E.)

SPEAR MINT. (M. spicata, a viridis. Linn. Watery places and banks of
rivers. Near Exmouth, and on the banks of the Thames. Hudson. (By
the sides of rills in the vale of Cerig, near Chirk Castle, Denbighshire.
Mr. Griffith. By the side of the Avon between Bath and Kelston, and
on a common between Glastonbury and Wells. Mr. Sole. E.)
P. July-Aug.t

(Mr. Sole states this to be the true Menthastrum of the shops, and deduces that the Monks, the physicians of their times, were well acquainted with its virtues, from its still being frequently found about the ruins of abbeys and monasteries. He finds it speedily cure chlorosis, and wonderfully refresh the brain, removing the dall stupid langour subsequent to epileptic fits. E.)

+ The flavour of this species being more agreeable than that of the others, it is generally preferred for medical and culinary purposes. A conserve of the leaves is very grateful, and the distilled waters, both siniple and spirituous, are universally thought pleasant. The leaves are used in spring salads; and the juice of them, boiled up with sugar, is formed into tablets. The distilled waters, and the essential oil, are often given to stop vomiting, and frequently with success. From the circumstances noticed under M. arvensis, it has been

M. PIPERITÀ. (Spikes blunt, interrupted below: leaves egg-shaped, stalked, smoothish: calyx very smooth at the base. E.)

Stem upright, branched, a little hairy, with recurved hairs, often purplish. Leaves dark green, sharpish, serrated, rather smooth above, more or less hairy, but never downy or shaggy beneath. Spike terminal, the lowest whorl remote, stalked, sometimes spiked. Floral-leaves spear-shaped, fringed. Calyx slender, furrowed, dotted, the teeth dark purple and fringed. Blossom purplish.

Var. 1. Leaves egg-spear-shaped; spikes elongated to a point. Sole Menth. 15. t. 7—E. Bot. 687-Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 169-Pet. t. 31. f. 10-Blackw. 291. 2. stamens represented too long.

The true Peppermint of the London Pharmacopoeia: first discovered by Dr. Eales in Hertfordshire. Ray. In a swampy place on Lansdown, near Bath, called the Wells; also by the side of the Avon in Newton Mead. Mr. Sole. In a rivulet in Bonsall Dale, near Matlock. Sir J. E. Smith. Near the river at Tamworth.

Var. 2. Leaves egg-shaped; spikes with their points abridged, almost capitate.

Sole Menth. 19. t. 8-R. Syn. t. 10. f. 2.

Herb Sherard. By Wandsworth river. About Bath in various watery places; between Wells and Glastonbury; also in Chiltern bottom, Wilts. Mr. Sole.

Var. 3. Larger in every respect than the other varieties; leaves broad, almost heart-shaped; spikes long and thick.

Sole Menth. 53. t. 24.

At Lyncomb Spa, and other wet places about Bath. Mr. Sole. At the south-west corner of Saham Meer, near Watton, Norfolk. Sir J. E. Smith. PEPPER MINT. M. piperita. Hudson; not of Linnæus, his plant so named being only a variety of M. hirsuta. E.) Watery places and sides of rivulets. (Rare in Scotland. Near Edinburgh. Mr. Greene. Grev. Edin. E.) P. Aug. Sept.

(M. CITRA'TA. Spikes capitate, very blunt: leaves on short leaf-stalks, heart-shaped, naked on both sides: calyx and flower-stalks smooth.

imagined, that cataplasms and fomentations of Mint, would dissolve coagulations of milk in the breasts; but Dr. Lewis says, that the curd of milk, digested in a strong infusion of Mint, could not be perceived to be any otherwise affected than by common water; however, milk in which Mint leaves were set to macerate, did not coagulate so soon as an of the same milk kept by itself. Dr. Lewis observes tant dry Mint, digested in rectified spirits of wine, gives out a tincture, which appears, by day-light, of a fine dark green, but, by candle light, of a bright red colour. The fact is, that a small quantity of this tincture is green, either by day-light or by candle-light, but a large quantity of it seems impervious to common day-light; and, when held between the eye and a candle, or between the eye and the sun, it appears red; so that if put into a flat bottle it may show either green, or red, as it is viewed through the flat side or through the edge of a bottle. (It is credibly reported that mice are so averse to the smell of mint, either recent or dried, that they will desist from their depredations on grain, cheese, and other stores, over which it is scattered. Probably the essential oils might prove equally preservative. E.)

The stein and leaves are beset with numbers of very minute glands, containing the essential oil, which rises plentifully in distillation. Peppermint water is well known as a carminative and antispasmodic. The essence of Peppermint is an elegant medicine, and possesses the most active properties of the plant.

E. Bot. 1025-Sole Menth. 31. t. 9-Moris. v. 3. t. 6. f. 3.

Whole plant invariably smooth, emitting an orange-like scent. Stem about two feet high, four-sided, of a reddish or mahogany colour, terminating in a large round head of flowers of a light red colour. Leaves broadheart-shaped, inclining to ovate, serrated; the nerves and under sides sometimes red. Calyx slender, furrowed, covered with glandular dots, dark purple. Stamens shorter than the blossom.

ORANGE or BERGAMOT MINT. M. citrata. Ehrh. Willd. M. odorata. Sole. Sm. Hull. With. Ed. 6. Not a variety of M. hirsuta; and perfectly distinct from M. aquatica of Linn. In watery places, not common. Frequent by the sides of rivers and brooks in Cheshire, especially about Aston House. Mrs. Walmsley. On the Milton side of the river, a little below Ditton, Cambridgeshire. Relhan. In a brook or ditch near Capel Cerig, between Llanrwst and Llanberris, North Wales. Mr. Sole. In a ditch near Bedford. Dr. Abbot. Mr. Turner, in Bot. Guide, observes that this plant gathered at Reedham, in Norfolk, on the east side of the town near the river, so greatly resembled M. hirsuta, as to be pronounced a variety of that species by Smith; yet in one year after it was brought into Mr. Wigg's garden it became quite smooth, and assumed the habit, as well as the smell, of M. odorata. P. July-Aug. E.)

(2) Flowers in whorls.

(M. HIRSUTA. Flowers in heads or whorls: leaves stalked, eggshaped calyx covered with erect hairs: flower-stalks rough with recurved ones.

(Hook. Fl. Lond. 166. E.)—E. Bot. 447-Sole Menth. 25. t. 11, and 23. t. 10 Ger. Em. 684-J. B. iii. 224-Moris. Sect. 11. t. 7. f. 6-Riv. Monop. Irr. t. 49-Fl. Dan. 638-Blackw. 32.

This species occasionally affords an instance of the remarkable change of a capitate Mint to a whorled one, which may often be traced in the same ditch. Whole plant more or less hairy, often tinged with purple, of a variable scent, generally acrid and aromatic, sometimes like camphor, at others sweet. Stem upright, much branched. Leaves serrated, of various size. Floral-leaves often spear-shaped, hairy. Calyx tubular, furrowed, purplish, beset with glandular dots, covered all over with reflexed hairs of various lengths. Blossom pale purple, hairy on the outside. Stamens varying in length. The lower whorls often pedunculate. Var. 1. of Smith's arrangement, represented by the above-cited figures, comprehends every thing that has been taken for M. aquatica and M. hirsuta of Linnæus :-it is likewise the Origanum vulgare of Fl. Dan.; M. hirsuta of Huds. E. Bot. With. Ed. 4. It varies greatly in colour and hairiness as growing in moist or dry situations. Stamens longer than the blossoms. Flowers capitate.*

Var. 2. Nearly resembling the former variety, but of a peculiarly fragrant smell, according to Dill.

R. Syn. 233. t. 10. f. 1.

In the parish of East Bourne, Sussex, in the road to Pevensey. Dillwyn.

(Uredo Menthæ, "in light reddish-brown spots, thinly scattered on the under side of the leaf," is found on this plant; as we have remarked on specimens which we collected at Ogwell mill, near Newton, Devon; where this species of Mint is gathered for distillation. E.)

Cornwall. Mr. Watt. Near the mill at Lilleshall, Shropshire.

Var 3. Rather more slender, of a paler hue, and the leaves somewhat less hairy. Flowers in heads. Stamens shorter than the blossom. Remarkable for its Peppermint flavor. This is M. piperita of Linnæus and Bergius, cultivated in the North of Europe for Peppermint, but distinct from what is generally used in this country.

A native of England. Herb. Banks.

Var. 4. Strikingly distinguished by its inflorescence, the head being lengthened out into a leafless spike of several whorls, more or less crowded together. Lowermost whorl generally axillary and pedunculate, sometimes elongated into a little spike. Leaves underneath paler, and considerably hairy. Blossom, as in other Mints, occasionally assuming the shape of a concave or galeated upper-lip. Spiked or capitate. M. palustris, Sole Menth. 13. t.

6—J. B. iii. 222—Ger. Em. 685-Lob. Ic. 510.

Near Bocking. Dale. On the south west shore of Saham meer, Norfolk. Smith. Plentiful in old ditches at Glastonbury, Wedmore, Birtle, &c. Somersetshire. Sole.

Var. 5. Flowers in whorls, but the whorls so close together as to resemble a spike. Flowers large, of a pale purple colour; stamens just equal with the blossom. Smells like Sweet Marjoram.

M. paludosa, Sole Menth. 49. t. 22.

In Holt fen at Streatham, near Ely; in a river by the side of Awdry Causeway, near Haddenham in the Isle of Ely. Sole.

Var. 6. Flowers in axillary clusters from many of the uppermost leaves forming whorls, each cluster is more or less pedunculate. Length of the stamens variable.

E. Bot. t. 448.

M. sativa. Linn. (synonyms excepted). Huds. M. aquatica. Lightf. M. rivalis. var. Sole. 45. M. arvensis. var. 2. With. Ed. 4. About rivulets on the side of Shotover Hill near Oxford. Mr. T. Bobart. On the banks of the river Lea near Hackney. Mr. E. Forster. At Saham and Ashill in Norfolk; also eleven miles from Norwich in the Hingham road, and in many other places. Smith. (By the Mole at Brockham. Mr. Winch. E.)

Var. 7. Verticillate, less hairy, and with rounder leaves. Dill. in Herb. Sherard.

In a ditch on the left hand of Chalk's Green, going from Braintree to Lee House. Dillwyn.

Var. 8. Whorled, very small, with an extremely fragrant odour. Herb. Buddl. M. aquatica exigua. Dill. in R. Syn. 232. (Ditches, rivulets, and other watery places. E.) By the side of the New River, near the upper end of Stoke Newington. Herb. Sherard. On Skoulton Common, near Hingham, Norfolk. Smith.

HAIRY WATER MINT. (Irish: Cartloin. Welsh: Mintys blewog. M. hirsuta. Sm. Relh. Hook. M. sativa. Tr. Linn. Soc. In ditches and watery places. Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh, several varieties. Dr. Greville. P. Aug. Sept. E.)

VOL. III.