GAMOPETAL^ 179 



The leaves are ovate to oblong, crowded or heart- 

 shaped below, stalked, coarsely-toothed, hairy both 

 sides, the upper ones bract-like. 



The flowers are in a dense, oblong, or round, ter- 

 minal head, interrupted below, or in the axils. They 

 are lilac. The calyx is glandular, tubular, the teeth 

 pointed, triangular, half as long as the tube. The 

 bracts are not as long as the flower-heads. The 

 flower-stalks and flowers are hairy. The throat of the 

 calyx is naked. The fruit is a nutlet. 



This is a tall species, from 1-4 ft. high. It flowers 

 in July and August. The Horse Mint is a herbaceous 

 perennial with aerial leafy stolons. 



As the whole plant is aromatic and the light-coloured 

 lilac flowers are conspicuous the flowers are readily 

 detected by insects and much visited. The flowers 

 are hermaphrodite. The anthers ripen before the 

 stigma. Some of the flowers are smaller and female, 

 and these are more numerous. The corolla is two- 

 lipped, and adapted to insect visits. 



The fruit falls near the plant, often in the water, 

 when the plant grows in the reed-swamp. 



Bishop's Weed, Bishop's Wort, Fish Mint, Baulme 

 Mint, are names cited by Britten and Holland. 



Some of the Mints are used in the manufacture of 

 the Peppermint, as M. piperita, which may be derived 

 from this species. 



Mentha hirsuta. — Note in the illustration {Fig, 

 50) the long-stalked, opposite, ovate leaves, the axillary 

 and terminal heads of flowers. 



