LABIATJE. 5 



of the shops, and deduces that the monks, the physicians of their times, were well 

 acquainted with its vii'tues, from its still being found about the ruins of monasteries 

 and abbeys. He finds it " speedily cures chlorosis, and wonderfully refreshes tho 

 brain, removing the dull stupid languor subsequent to epileptic fits." 



SPECIES II.-M ENTHA ALOPECUROIDES. EaU. 



Tlate MXXI. 



M. sylrestris, var. 4, alopecuroides. Balier, Joum. Bot. 1865, p. 238. 



M. sylvestris, var. ?. 8m. Eng. Fl. Vol. III. p. 73. 



M. sylvestris, var. velutina. Bah. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. ii. p. 243. 



M. rotundifolia. Sole, Brit. Mints, p. 9. PI. IV. 



M. rotundifolia, var. velutina, Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. ed. i. p. 228. 



M. dulcissima. Bum. Fl. Belg. p. 48. 



Leaves sessile or subsessile, broadly oval or roimdish-ovate, sub- 

 cordate, snb-obtuse, serrate, rugose, from the veius being all impressed 

 aljove and prominent beneath, sparingly hairy above, more copiously 

 BO but not felted beneath. Spikes conico-cylindrical. Bracts lanceolate, 

 acuminate ; bracteoles lanceolate, acuminate, shorter than the flowers. 

 Pedicels hairy. Calyx bristly-hair}^, campanulate-oblong ; teeth trian- 

 gular-subulate as long as the tube. Corolla nearly twice as long as 

 the calyx, hairy without, glabrous within. 



In damp ground and waste places. Rare. Sole states that Alton had 

 it sent to him by a correspondent who found it both in Kent and Essex; 

 it occurs in various stations in Xorfulk. In Scofland it has been found 

 near Brodick, Arran, and near Killin, Perthshire, but has little claim 

 to be considered native in these Scotch localities. 



England, [Scotland]. Perennial. Autumn. 



This plant has much the habit of M. rotundifolia, but the leaves are 

 lai'gei', Ijroader, more sharply and dee[)ly serrate and not arachnoid- 

 felted beneath; the bracts are narrower, being nearly the same shape 

 as the bracteoles ; the flowers are larger, blush-coloured, and the calyx 

 teeth are much longer in proportion. 



Mr. Baker and most British botanists place this ]Jant with 31. syl- 

 vestris, but it has the rugose leaves of M. rotundifolia as avcII as their 

 general outline ; the bracts, too, are conspicuously broader than in M. 

 sylvestris. Mr. Baker says the bracteoles are similar to those of M. 

 sylvestris, but his descriptions are taken from dried specimens, in which 

 they may have shrivelled, and so become apparently narrower than they 

 are in the recent plant.' I have been favoured with recent specimens 

 from Norwich from the Rev. Kirby Trimmer, and many years ago I 

 had the plant in cultivation. 



The only continental specimen I have seen is a Belgian one from Dr. 

 Thielens labelled M. dulcissima, Diunortier. 



