l^ Dr. Smith'/ Obfcrvations on 



alio the corolhi is drawn galeateJ, may belong to this variety, or to 

 the next ; but I would not venture to quote it, not having obferved 

 the original fpccimcn in Bobait's herbarium. 



The remaining variety g is reckoned by Mr. Sole among the ver- 

 ticillate fpecies, and indeed the living plants with which he favoured 

 me proved truly verticillate, all the whorls being axillary, and the 

 flem terminating in leaves; that is to fay, it became exatlly M.fativa. 

 A dried fpecimen however, communicated alfo by Mr. Sole, has the 

 upper whorls cluflcrcd together, with very fmall leaves accompany- 

 ing them, and the ftem terminates in a blunt head of flowers, as in 

 his tab. 22. This only fliews how nearly the capitate Mints are 

 allied to the verticillate ; and I have another example of the fame 

 kind in the M. aquatlca of the Linnaean herbarium, upon which, 

 though I have found no exactly parallel fpecimen wild in England, 

 1 beg here to offer a few remarks. 



The original fpecimen of M. aquatica^ which Linnsus defcribed, is 

 really a verticillate Mint. The main Item has lo whorls, 7 of them 

 axillary, and the leaves that accompany thefe are much longer than 

 the flowers. The 3 uppermofl: whorls more clofcly approach each 

 other, and are accompanied by leaves fo much fmaller than the refl, 

 that the whole has a capitate appearance. This dcfcription is ap- 

 plicable alfo to the 5 lateral branches of the fame fpecimen, and. will 

 be found to accord with the fhort account in Spec. Plant. Yet Lin- 

 naeus is fcarcely correct in faying " planta non hirta." The upper 

 leaves at leafl are clothed with fhort clofe-prefTed hairs. The 

 branches and calyx are alfo hairy. The flower- ftalks are lefs fo 

 than is ufual in M. h'lrfuta or in M. fativa^ but they are furnilhed 

 fufficicntly with little reflexed briflles to decide the fpecimen to be- 

 long to one or other of thofe fpecies ; I hardly know which, for I 

 jcally believe them not to be diftindl, and that this M, aquatica of 



Linnaeus, 



