1924] Blake,—The Name of the Spearmint 171 
short-petioled leaves and broadly ovate, somewhat ciliate sepals 7 
mm. long, is almost exactly intermediate between species and variety. 
I have not been able to identify Béguinot's subsp. homotricha. 
The conclusions here reached may be summarized as follows. 
Prof. Fernald (Rnopona xxi. 7-9 [1919] ) has well set forth the reasons 
why the generic name Stellaria is to be preferred to Alsine for the 
species of this group. 
* Median leaves of both sterile and flowering shoots rounded or narrowed 
at the sessile or subsessile base, oblong-lanceolate to oval; sepals 4-6 mm. 
long, obtuse or acutish, shorter than the petals, not at all or only inconspicu- 
ously ciliate. 
STELLARIA PUBERA Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i. 273 (1803).  Alsine 
pubera tennesseensis Mohr, Cont. Nat. Herb. vi. 499 (1901). Alsine 
tennesseensis Small, Fl. S. E. U. S. 422 (1903), as to name-bringing 
synonym.—N. J. to Ind., south to Ga. and Ala. 
** Median leaves of sterile shoots abruptly contracted into petioles 1-2 
em. long, oval to broadly ovate; sepals 7.5-11 mm. long, acute or acuminate, 
equalling or exceeding the petals, at least the outer conspicuously ciliate on 
the lower half. 
Var. silvatica (Béguinot), n. comb. S. pubera, subsp. silvatica 
Bég. Nuov. Giorn. Bot. Ital. n. s. xvii. 385 (1910). Alsine tennes- 
seensis Small, l. c., as to plant described.—CoxNEcrICUT (where 
introduced); dooryard, Wilton, April, 1923, Anna E. Carpenter 
(G). Onto: Chillicothe, May, 1885, H. T. Safford (US); near Cin- 
cinnati, April 27, 1879, C. G. Lloyd (US). INDIANA: wooded ravine 
near Lawrenceburgh, Dearborn Co., May 10, 1910, Deam (herb. 
C. C. Deam). Kentucky: cliffs of the Kentucky River, May, 1830, 
H. H. Eaton (G). Tennessee: bluffs along the Tennessee River, 
Knoxville, April, 1894, S. N. Bain (US); same locality, April, 1895, 
Ruth (G). 
Gray HERBARIUM. 
THE NAME OF THE SPEARMINT. 
S. F. BLAKE. 
IN a recent paper in this journal, Mr. O. A. Farwell! has sought to 
show that the name Mentha spicata L., in general use for the spear- 
mint for many years, belongs to the horse mint of Europe, usually 
called M. longifolia, and that the spearmint should be called M. 
viridis. In this interpretation of the Linnaean name Farwell departs 
1“ The correct name for the spearmint,” Ruopora 26: 19-22. 1924. 
