LABIATE. 7 



acute, finely serrate, hoary pubescent above, densely felted-hairy and 

 white beneath. Spikes short and thick. 



In damp and waste places. Rather rare, but widely distributed ; var. 

 j3 apparently the most frequent form; var. 7 rare: at Acle, Norfolk ; 

 Allanton, Berwickshire; and Sidlaw Hills, Forfarshire. 



England, Scotland, Ireland ( ?). Perennial. Autumn. 



A variable plant, with the stem 2 to 3 feet high, more or less covered 

 with white wool, much less branched than in M. rotundifolia and 

 M. alopecuroides. Leaves varying in breadth, 1^ to 3 inches long. 

 Spikes panicled, seldom aggregated at the apex of the stem, except in 

 var. mollissima. Flowers larger than in M. rotundifolia, pale lilac; 

 bracts and calyx teeth much longer. The leaves are not rugose, as in 

 the two pi-eceding species, and are generally whiter beneath, and with 

 shorter and stilFer pubescence than in ]\1. alopecui'oides. 



Common Horse Mint. 



French, Menthe sauvage. German, Waldminze. 



This species possesses somewhat of the odour of the genus which, in olden times, 

 was so much esteemed as a perfume. Our modern tastes are not so partial to these 

 rustic perfumes as were those of our forefathers. We read in Browne's " Pastorals " 

 of a friend being told 



" To convey him from his room 



To a field of 3-eUow broom. 

 Or into the meadows, where 

 Mint perfumes the gentle air." 



The generic term l^Unt seemed, with the older writers, to include many sweet- 

 scented plants, especially such as we now find in the culinary department of a herb 

 garden. We recall the lines : — 



" Here's flowers for you ; 

 Hot lavender, viinfs, savory, marjoram. 

 The marigold that goes to bed with the sun, 

 And with him rises weeping : these are flowers 

 Of middle summer." 



SPECIES IV.— MENTHA VI RID IS. Linn. 



Plate ilXXIII. 



Baker, Joum. Bot. 1865, p. 239. Sole, Brit. Mints, p. 2, PL V. 



M. sylvestria, var. c, glabra. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. II. p. G33. 



Leaves subsessile, oblong-elliptical or elliptical-lanceolate, I'ounded 

 or subcordate at the base, acute, sharply serrate, not rugose, the ulti- 

 mate anastomosing veins being only slightly impressed, glabrous above 

 and below, or with hairs only on the midrib and principal veins beneath. 



