12 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



MONSTROSITY.— M E N T H A CRISPA. L!h,l 

 Plate MXXVIII. 

 Balcei; Journ. Bot. 1865, p. 240. 



M. piperita, var. crispa, Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ, et Helv. eel. ii. p. 634. 

 M. aquatioa, var. crispa, Benih. in B.C. Prod. p. 170. Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. p. 254. 

 Hook. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 324. 



Leaves subsessile, or tlie lower ones shortly stalked, ovate or 

 triangular-ovate, subacute, laciniate and crisped at the margins, finely- 

 pubescent above, more thickly so or woolly beneath. Spikes cylin- 

 drical-oblong, rather dense, thick. Bracts lanceolate ; bracteoles 

 linear-subulate, as long as the flowers. Pedicels glabrous. Calyx 

 sparingly bristly-hahy, obconical-campanulate ; teeth triangular- 

 subulate, nearly as long as the tube. Corolla twice as long as the 

 calyx, very slightly hairy without, glabrous within. 



On the banks of the Wooler Water, near Haugh Head, and on the 

 banks of a rivulet leadmg from the same water above Longley Ford, 

 Northumberland. 



[England.] Perennial. Autumn. 



There can be no doubt that this mint is a monstrosit}'', but it seems 

 hopeless to discover to which species it ought to be referred. Such 

 writers as Wirtgen and Baker, who have more especially studied 

 the mints, incline to the supposition that it is a form of M. piperita, 

 from which, however, it differs remarkably m the suppression of the 

 petioles of the leaves, Avliich latter are also much more hairy: the 

 calyx also differs in being more hairy, the tube more narrowed towards 

 the base, and the teeth much longer in proportion. It is more hairy 

 than ]M. citrata, to which it is referred by Boreau, and less so than 

 M. hirsuta, and from both these latter forms it differs in the subsessile 

 leaves and sj^iked, not capitate, inflorescence. From the crisped variety 

 of M. viridis it differs in the leaves being more distinctly stalked, the 

 spikes much shorter and blunter, and the corolla havmg a few hairs 

 on the outside. Fx-om M. pubescens it is separated by the subsessile 

 leaves, longer calyx-teeth, and more fragrant scent. 



Curled Mint. 



SPECIES VII.— MENTHA CITRATA. Ehrh. 



Plate MXXIX. 



Baker, Journ. Bot. 1865, p. 244. Sm. Eng. Fl. Vol. III. p. 78. 



M. odorata. Sole, Brit. Mints, p. 21, PI. IX. 8m. E. B. ed. i. No. 1025. 



M. aquatioa, var. glabi-ata, Bcnth. in B.C. Prod. Vol. XII. p. 171. Bal. Man. Brit. 



Bot. ed. V. p. 254. Hook. & Am. Brit. Fl. ed. viii. p. 824. Koch, Syn. Fl. Germ. 



et Heir. ed. ii. p. 634. 



Leaves cons2>icuously stalked, ovate, abrupt or subcordate at the 



