.the Br hip Species of Mentha, 207 



this conje£lurc arc as follows. There is not to be found in the col- 

 leftions of Buddie or Sherard any fpecimen of M.fativa with marks 

 of its having been gathered by Tilleinan Bobart at Shotover, or with 

 any indication of its being the fuppofed hairy variety of the M. ver- 

 liciUata of the Synopfis. We learn thofc particulars only from Bo- 

 bart's herbarium. In that colicftion is a paper of the tall Red Mint, 

 my rubra, marked with feveral of the i'ynonyms I have adopted. 

 With this is one loofe fpecimen of M.fativa^ and a note in Buddie's 

 writing, faying, " I want your brother Tillemau's variety of this, 

 hirfuiie foliorum difcrepans^ Hence I conclude M. fativa to be that 

 fuppofed variety, of which perhaps James Bobart had no duplicate 

 to fend Buddie, and he might put his note to the fpecimen as a me- 

 morandum to procure him the plant at fome future opportunity, 

 which feems never to have happened, as it is not in Buddie's her- 

 barium at prefent. 



It is certainly very wonderful that any botariifl: could confound 

 M. fativa with the plant now under confideration, even wilihouC 

 attending to the calyx and flower-flalks, which in the rubra are 

 always perfe^lly fmooth, except a few hairs on the margin, rarely 

 on the back, of the teeth of the calyx. The fmooth reddilh zigzag 

 ftem, with a very few fhort branches curved in various dire6lions, 

 rifingto the height of 5 or 6 feet when fupported by bufhes ; the deep- 

 green fhining nearly fmooth leaves ; the large handfome purple 

 flowers; readily diftinguilh the M. rubra from all others, nor is it 

 liable to the variations to which moft fpecies are fubjedt. 



10. Mentha 



