the BritijJj Specks of Mentha, JlOl 



lion of the foregoing, except that the flowers are all whorlcd. With 

 refpcft to the hairinefs, the form of the leaves, the pale green or 

 purple colour, and in general the fmell, there is no difference. I 

 have parallel varieties of both in all thel'e particulars, except indeed 

 that I ha\e never found the Pepper-mint flavour in any .variety of 

 M./iitiva; but I have an inftanceof the fwect fmell oi fativa var. y 

 in an old fpecimen of Af. hirfuta in my poflTeflion. This however is 

 ol fmall importance. In the calyx and flower-ftalk they accord pre- 

 cifely. _ The hairs which entirely clothe the former are curved up- 

 wards, thofe which cover the latter are either curved backwards, or 

 clofcly preflTed to the ftalk in that direction. This circumftance will 

 be found a certain clue to diftinguifh all the varieties of this plant 

 from every other whorled mint. Without attention to it there is 

 no pofTibility of determining them. The ftamina are either longer 

 ■or Ihorter than the corolla, which is externally hairy. Sometimes 

 the tube has hairs in its orifice. 



It is as impoffible to mark every fleeting variation in this Mint as 

 in the common capitate hirfuta. (2, colleiSled by Dillenius, and pre- 

 ferved in the herbarium of Sherard, is a lax broad fmoothilh-leaved. 

 variety, the fix upper whorls of which have very fmall leaves accom- 

 panying them; a circumftance which occurs in fome varieties of Mr. 

 Sole's M. gracilis, and fhows an approach to the fpiked mints. The 

 calyx is duly hairy, and the flower-ftalks clothed with reflexed hairs, 

 though lefs thickly fet than ufual. 



y is the Mint that was mifl;aken for the exigua of Linnseus, whofe 

 hiftory is to be found in the third volume of our Tranfaciions. I 

 had not, when that paper was written, difcovered the importance of 

 the pubefcence upon the calyx and flower-ftalk of this genus, or I 

 should not have aflented to the poflibility of Buddie's plant being the 

 igetitilis: neither did I fufficiently attend to the old authors to which 



Vol. V. D d it 



