LABIAT7E. ^ 



but is especially beneficial to splenetic people, whom he recommends to taste it in the 

 garden for nine successive days without picking it, taking care to say at the same tune 

 that they do it for the good of their spleen. We incline to believe in the daily walk 

 in the garden rather than in the mint a sa cure. The notion that mint will prevent 

 the coagulation of milk is favoured by Dr. Withering, as having some foundation in 

 fact; for he says, when cows eat Mentha arvensis in summer, as they are apt to do 

 when grass is scanty, their milk can hardly be made into cheese ; and Lewis says, that 

 milk in which mint-leaves were put to macerate did not coagulate nearly so soon as an 

 equal quantity of the same milk kept by itself. It is said that mice are so averse to the 

 smell of mint, either fresh or dried, that they will desist from theii- depredations on 

 grain, cheese, or other stores where it is scattered. 



SPECIES v.— M ENTHA PIPERITA. Buds. 



Plates MXXIV. IIXXV. 

 Baher, Journ. Bot. 1865, p. 240. 



Leaves shortly but distinctly stalked, oblong- elliptical or oblong- 

 lanceolate or elliptical-ovate, rounded or wedge-shaped at the base, 

 acute, serrate, glabrous above and below, or hairy only on the 

 principal veins and midrib beneath. Spikes oblong-conical or oblong- 

 ovoid, rather denae, thick. Bracts lanceolate ; bracteoles linear-lance- 

 olate, acuminate, about as long as the flowers. Pedicels glabrous. 

 Calyx subglabrous, oblong-campanulate ; teeth triangular-subulate, half 

 as long as the tube, ciliated. Corolla twice as long as the calyx, 

 glabrous without and within. 



Var. «. officinalis, Sole, "/'r ,„ v-v. - 



Plate IIXXR^ / 



Bal-p.r, 1. c. p. 240. Sole, Brit. Mints, p. 15, PI. VII. 

 M. officinalis, Hull, Brit. Fl. ed. i. p. 127. 



Leaves oblong-elliptical or oblong-lanceolate, rounded or attenuated 

 at the base. Spikes elongated, of numerous verticillasters. 



Var. 3. vulgaris, Sole. /Siuv/x «4.^^ ^■- 



Plate MXXV. "' '' '' ■^ 



Baker, I. c. p. 241. 

 Sole, Brit. Mmts, p. 19, PI. VIII. 



Leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, abruptly roimded or even subcordate 

 at the base. Spikes capitate, of few verticillasters. 



Var. « in damp places not unfrequent, but doubtless often escaped 

 from cultivation. Var. ji. I have never seen in cultivation : it is 

 common about Thirsk, in Yorkshire ; near Bath, Wells, and Glaston- 

 bury, Somerset ; and has occurred m Essex and Surrey. One of the 

 forms occurs in Ireland, but is said to be doubtfully native. 



VOL. H. c 



