LABIATE 



Water Uorehowid^ Gipsey Wort. 



Frencli, Lyeope d'Europe. German, gemeiner Wolfstrapp. 



The juice of this plant yields a black dye, and is used occasionally to give a perma- 

 nent colour to wool, silk, and linen. It is called Gipsey Wort, according to the old 

 herbalists, because " those strolling cheats called gipsies do dye themselves of a 

 blackish hue with the juice of this plant, the better to pass for Africans by their 

 tanned looks and swarthy hides, to bubble the credulous and ignorant by the practice 

 of magic and fortune-telling ; they being, indeed, a suck of all nations, living by rapine, 

 filching, pilfering, and imposture." 



GENUS Il.—m E N T H A.* Linn. 



Calyx regular, 5-tootliecl, teeth flat. Corolla funnel-shaped, nearly- 

 regular or sub-bilabiate, 4-lobed ; upper lobe generally notched. Sta- 

 men 4; nearly equal, diverging. Anther-cells parallel. Nucules 

 rounded at the apex, not surrounded by a corky border at the base. 



Aromatic herbs with dentate or entire leaves; those (bracts) from 

 which verticillasters of flowers are produced; similar to the others, or 

 much smaller. Flowers small, crowded, shortly stalked or subsessile, 

 lilac or rose. 



The name of this genus of plants appears to have been derived from the fable of the 

 nympli !Menthe, the daughter of Cocytus, a favourite of Pluto, whom Proserpine ia 

 jealous fury transformed into this little plant. 



Sub-Genus.— EU-MENTH A. Gre?i. and Godr. 

 Calyx nearly regular, naked at the throat. 



Group!.— MENTHA SPICATJ^. 



AVhorls of flowers collected into cylindrical, conical, or ovoid spikes 

 or heads; bracts minute. 



* In this difficult genus I have, for the most part, adopted the views of Mr. Baker, as 

 expressed in his paper on British Mints, published in Dr. Seemann's Journal of Botany 

 for 1865, p. 233. I am also indebted to him for naming my large collection of MentiB 

 in accordance with this paper, and for numerous personal communications on the 

 subject. Mr. John Hardy has most kindly lent me his set of specimens of mints 

 collected by Sole. 



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