18 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Var. 3, Cardiaca. 

 Plate MXXXV. 

 M. Cardiaca, var. 1. Baker, 1. c. p. 245. 

 M. gracilis, var. y. Sm. Engl. Fl. Vol. III. p. 84. 



M. gentilis, Sole, Brit. Mints, p. 35, PI. XV. (non Unn.) Sm. E. B. ed. i. No. 449. 

 M. rubra. Fries, Nov. Fl. Suec. ed. ii. p. 179. 



Stem rather stout, subglabrous. Leaves rhomboidal- or lanceolate- 

 elliptical or ovate-elliptical, nearly glabrous, except ou the veins. 

 Bracts two to four times the length of the whorls, subsessile. Whorls 

 rather crowded. 



In wet places. Rare. Var. a appears to have been found only by Sole, 

 in 1772, by the side of a brook, near Bradford, Wilts; var. 3 has been 

 seen by Mr. Baker from the banks of the Tyne, near Newcastle, Durham 

 (Wmch); AVooclstock, Oxfordshire (H. Boswell); Waterford Marsh, 

 near Hertford (Ansell); banks of the Lea, near Walthamstow, Middle- 

 sex (T. F. Forster). There are sj^ecimens in Smith's Herbarium, 

 from a wet common before the blacksmith's shop at Langham, Norfolk. 

 I have specimens collected by the Rev. W. H. Purchas at Smoile, 

 near Ashby de la Zouch, Leicestershire, where, however, it has merely 

 escaped from cultivation, as is probably also the case in most of the 

 other stations. 



England. Perennial. Early Autumn. 



Of var. a the only specimen I have seen is that in the set of Sole's 

 mints in the possession of Mr. John Hardy, of Hulme, Manchester. 

 This is a slender plant, with few and distant branches ; the stems rather 

 wiry and flexuous, the lowest jDart with crisped hairs. Leaves 2 

 to 2i inches long, thinly sprinkled above wdth minute slender hairs. 

 Bracts long, narrower in proportion to their length than the leaves. 

 Lowest whorls more than 1 inch distant. Calyx teeth ciliated with 

 long white hairs. Verticillasters rather large, lax. 



Var. 3 is a plant often cultivated in gardens, with a strong smell of 

 basil. It is a stouter plant than var. a, 1^ to 2| feet high, branched, 

 with the branches more upright than in the other, the leaves more 

 attenuated towards the apex, the bracts much shorter in proportion to 

 the verticillasters, which are in much closer proximity than in var. a. 

 It is intermediate between M. viridis and M. rubra. 



Cardiac Mint. 

 SPECIES XII._M ENTHA PRATENSIS. Sole. 

 Plate MXXXVI. 

 Sole, Brit. Mints, p. 39. PI. XVII. 

 M. gentilis, var. 4. Baier, Journ. Bot. 1866, p. 251. 

 M. gi-acilis, var. (i. Sm. Eugl. Fl. Vol. III. p. 84. 



Leaves drooping, subsessile or the lo\\x'r ones shortly stalked, ellip- 



