= (5 ghe Britifh Species of Mentha, — 201. 
tion of the foregoing, except that the flowers are all whorled. With - 
refpe&t to the hairinefs, the form of the leaves, the pale green or 
purple colour, and in general the fmell, there is no difference. I 
have parallel varieties of both in all thefe particulars, except indeed 
that I have never found. the Pepper-mint flavour in any variety of 
M. fativa; but I have an inftance of the {weet {mell of /ativa var. y 
in an old fpecimen of M. dirfuta in my poffeffion. This however is 
of fmallimportance. In the calyx and flower-ftalk they accord pre- 
cifely. The hairs which entirely clothe the former are curved up- 
wards, thofe which cover the latter are either curved backwards, or 
clofely preffed to the ftalk in that direction. This circumftance will 
be found a certain clue to diftinguifh all the varieties of this plant 
from every other whorled mint. m OE attention to it there is 
no poffibility of determining. them. The ftamina are either longer 
or fhorter than the corolla, which is externally hairy. Sometimes 
the tube has hairs in its orifice. 
It is as Voie uds to mark every fleeting variation in this Mint as 
on e hirfuta. B, collected by Dillenius, and pre- 
fered in x ths atari oF Sherard, is a lax broad fmoothiíh-leaved | 
variety, the fix upper whorls of which have very fmall leaves accom- 
panying them; a circumftance which occurs in fome varieties of Mr. 
Sole's M. gracilis, and fhows an approach to the fpiked mints. The 
calyx is duly hairy, and the flower-ftalks clothed with reflexed hairs, 
Rhouch lefs thickly fet than ufual. 
y is the Mint that was miftaken for the exigua of Linnzus, whofe 
hiftory is to be found in the third volume of our Tranfactions. I 
had not, when that paper was written, difcovered the importana of 
the pubefcence upon the calyx and flower-ftalk of this genus, or I 
. fhould not have affented to the poffibility of Buddle's plant being 
gentilis: neither did I fufficiently attend to ghe old authors towbich 
Nor. a Ed Dd it 
