172 Rhodora [SEPTEMBER 
not only from the usage of Hudson,! the first reviser of the complex 
Linnaean species M. spicata, but also from that of such critical 
modern students of the European flora as H. and J. Groves (Babing- 
ton's Manual, ed. 9), Britten and Rendle (List of British Seed-plants, 
1907), Schinz and Keller (Flora der Schweiz, ed. 4, 1923), and Wil- 
mott (Babington's Manual, ed. 10), as well as from the practice of 
all recent American authors. 
In the first edition of the Species Plantarum (1753) Linnaeus 
described Mentha spicata with three varieties—z. viridis, B. longifolia, 
and vY. rotundifolia. Hudson (1762), the next author to deal with 
these plants, raised the three varieties to specific rank. His species, 
corresponding to the Linnaean varieties in the order named, were 
called M. spicata, M. longifolia, and M. rotundifolia. In the second 
edition of the Species Plantarum (1763), Linnaeus split his Mentha 
spicatc of 1753 into three species, as Hudson had done, but dropped 
the name spicata. Var. longifolia of 1753 became Mentha sylvestris, 
var. viridis became M. viridis, and var. rotundifolia became M. 
rotundifolia. As the pertinent descriptions in both editions of the 
Species Plantarum are copied in full by Mr. Farwell, it is unnecessary 
to reproduce them here. 
Mr. Farwell evidently considers that the name Mentha spicata, as 
used by Linnaeus, represented an entity different from the three 
varieties included under it. His sole argument for the transfer of 
the name to the plant called M. sylvestris in the second edition of the 
Species Plantarum is given as follows: *of the eight citations under 
M. sylvestris six are from the var. longifolia and one from M. spicata 
the other being extraneous," while *of the seven citations under M. 
viridis 5 are from var. viridis (none from M. spicata), the others 
being extraneous.” The fact that, of the two references given under 
M. spicata proper in 1753, the only one that is repeated in 1763 is 
placed under M. sylvestris, is considered to show that “ M. spicata 
formed a part of M. sylvestris and not at all of M. viridis." 
The reference on which Mr. Farwell lays so much stress is that 
from the Hortus Upsaliensis, “ Mentha floribus spicatis, foliis oblongis 
serratis." Under this name Linnaeus combined, as var. z and var. 8, 
two plants which he had previously treated as species in the Hortus 
Cliffortianus. The Hortus Upsaliensis name, then, was merely a 
!Fl. Angl. ed. 1, 221. 1762. 
