320 SOLANACEAE. 



rudimentary stamens slender, thickened at the apex; nutlets much 

 shorter than the calyx. 



Occasional along stream banks in the San Bernardino Valley, 

 Parish. 



12. MENTHA L. 



Erect or diffuse aromatic herbs with simple mostly 

 punctate leaves, and small whorled flowers, the whorls 

 axillary or in terminal dense or interrupted spikes. 

 Calyx campanulate to tubular, 10-nerved, regular or 

 slightly bilabiate, 5-toothed. Corolla-tube shorter than 

 the calyx, the limb 4-cleft, somewhat regular, the pos- 

 terior lobe usually somewhat broader than the others, 

 entire or emarginate. Stamens 4, equal, erect, included 

 or exserted; filaments glabrous; anthers 2-celled, the 

 sacs parallel. Ovary 4-parted; style 2-cleft. Nutlets 

 ovoid, smooth. 



1. M. piperita L. (Peppermint.) Perennial by subterranean 

 suckers; stems glabrous or sparsely puberulent, mostly erect, 

 branched, 3-9 dm. high; leaves ovate-oblong to oblong- lanceolate, 

 narrowed or rounded at the base, petioled, acute at the apex, sharply 

 serrate, glabrous except the veins beneath; whorls of flowers in 

 terminal dense or interrupted spikes, 2.5-7 cm. long in fruit; calyx 

 tubular-campanulate, its teeth subulate, ciliate, half as long as the 

 tube or more; corolla glabrous. 



Occasional along streams about Los Angeles and Santa Ana. 

 August-December. 



2. M. spicata L. (Spearmint.) Perennial by leafy stolons; 

 herbage glabrous; stems branched, 3-5 dm. high; leaves lanceolate, 

 short-petioled or sessile; whorls of flowers in terminal narrow, acute, 

 usually interrupted spikes, these becoming 5-10 cm. long in fruit; 

 calyx campanulate, its teeth hirsute or glabrate, subulate, nearly 

 as long as the tube; corolla glabrous, (M. viridis L.) 



Frequent in low ground along streams. August-December. 



Family 93. SOLANACEAE. Potato Family. 



Herbs, shrubs, vines or rarely trees, with alternate or 

 rarely opposite exstipulate leaves, and perfect regular or 

 nearly regular cymose flowers. Calyx mostly 5-lobed. 

 Corolla varying from rotate to salver-shaped, mostly 

 5-lobed, the lobes induplicate-valvate or plicate in the 

 bud. Stamens as many as the lobes of the corolla and 

 inserted on the tube alternate with them, equal (4 and 

 didynamous in Petunia^ the fifth being smaller or obso- 



