34 LABIATE 



large masses by the waterside. The foliage, which is very white beneath, 

 sometimes looks as if it were mouldy. In one variety it has lanceolate leaves, 

 while in another form these are oval, and it is sometimes found with very 

 crisp and ragged leaves, 



2. Round-leaved Mint {M. rotundifdlia). — Leaves sessile, elliptical, 

 blunt, acutely crenate, wrinkled, shaggy beneath ; spikes oblong, dense ; 

 bracts lanceolate ; perennial. The whole of this plant is covered with long 

 soft hairs ; its stem is about two feet high, and the under part of the leaves 

 shaggy with white down. It flowers in August and Septembei', and its 

 corollas are of a pale pink colour. It has a strong but disagreeable odour, 

 and is not unf requent by riversides and on bogs in England, though appar 

 ently not truly wild in Scotland, nor the north of England. 



3. Spearmint {M. viridis). — Leaves sessile, lanceolate, acute, smooth, 

 and serrated ; spikes elongated, interrupted ; bracts awl-shaped, and as well 

 as the calyx either smooth or hairy ; flower-stalks always smooth ; calyx-teeth 

 bristle-tipped; perennial. The stem of this Mint is from two. to three feet 

 high, smooth, distinctly four-cornered, erect, and branched, and its bluish- 

 lilac flowers appear in August. It is more often found in the kitchen-garden 

 or the cottage-bed, where it has been cultivated for culinary purposes, than 

 on an}^ wild spot. It grows, however, in some marshy places in several parts 

 of England, and has a few Scottish localities, though some botanists regard 

 it as a naturalized, and not a wild plant of this kingdom. Its strongly- 

 scented flowers appear in April, and the flavour of its aromatic and pungent 

 foliage is too well known to need any comment. Like others of the genus, 

 it leaves a sense of coolness on the tongue. In modern times, and in this 

 country, it is chiefly used either in medicine or as a sauce for roasted meat, 

 or as an addition to green peas and other vegetables, as also an ingredient in 

 soups ; but in olden times it was in much more general use, as it still is in 

 some other countries. Its culture in the garden is very ancient, as we know 

 both by its old name of Our Lady's Mint, and also from lines in Chaucer's 

 " Romaunt of the Rose " : — 



"Then wente I forthe on my right honde, 

 Downe by a little path I fonde 

 Of Mintes full and fenell greene. " 



Parkinson tells that it was, in his time, boiled with mackerel and other 

 fish, and that when dried it was put into puddings, and also among green 

 peas, which were " broght for pottage." He adds, " If applyed with salte it 

 is a good helpe against the biting of a mad dog, and when dockes are not to 

 be had, they use to bruise Mintes and lay them upon any place that is stung 

 by bees, wasps, and such like, and that to good purpose." Other writers of 

 those days say, that Mint should be smelled, as being comfortable for the 

 head and memory. Pliny had said of this herb, "The smell of Mint doth 

 stir up the miude and taste to a greedy desire of meat." Margaret Paston, 

 writing in 1746 about the illness of her cousin Bernay, says, "I remember 

 yat Mynte, or water of millefole, were good for my cosyn Bernay to drinke, 

 for to make him browke ;" the word browke meaning to brook or digest 

 meat. Gerarde considered that the savour or smell of the water of Mint 

 "rejoyceth the heai^t of man, for which cause," he says, "they use to strew 



