•ON THE ENGLISH MINTS. 249 
and often tinged with purple, broadly ovate, more or less rounded at 
r 
the base, the point acute or bluntish, the lowest 2-3 inches long by 
1-11 broad, the upper surface deep green and naked, or very slightly 
hairy, the lower surf^ice paler, glandular, and slightly haii*y on the 
veins, the serrations moderately large and sharp, WhorU beginning 
at or a little below the middle of the stem, the lowest 1 inch apart and 
sometimes stalked ; their leaves 1-2 inches long, and those of the 
upper ones from as long as to twice their length. Pedicel purplish, 
1-1 1 liue long, glandular but not hairy. Calyx-tube campanula! o- 
cylindrical, 1 liue long, glandular but not haiiy, or with only a few 
scattered short hairs. Teeth | line long, narrowed suddenly from a 
triangular or lanceolate base to a subulate point, not very thickly fur- 
nished with erecto-patent hairs. Bracteoles linear, slightly ciliated/ 
Corolla twice as long as the calyx, purplish-red, in fine specimens J 
inch long, naked both internally and extenially. 
It is apparently diffused very generally throughout England in a 
truly wild state, and there are specimens in Mr. Syme's collection from 
as far north in Scotland as Edinburghshire. Of our verticillate forms 
it is the largest and the handsomest, for iu stem and corolla and leaf 
there is, when it grows under favourable circumstances, considerable 
brightness of contrasted colours. The detailed description of Fries 
(Nov. p. 185), who advocates the claim of this as having the best right 
to be considered as the Linnseau *' saliva" agrees well with our plant. 
It appears from his account to be not unfrequently grown in gardens 
in Sweden, but I am only acqiuiiuted with it in our country as a ditch 
and stream-side plant. Though occurring in several places, it is 
doubted as a native of Central France by Boreau. It is not given at 
all by Wirtgen, whose former M. rubra is M. Wirtgeniana, F. Schultz, 
shortly to be noticed. A curious form gathered by Dr. Windsor at 
Partington, in Cheshire, has long tufted white fleecy hairs upon the 
teeth and upper part of the tube of the calyx, and the stem and veins 
of the under side of the leaves similarly clothed. The leaves of M. 
rubra vary considerably in texture, being sometimes thin and bright 
green, sometimes thicker and more opaque. Usually the upper leaves 
are two or three times as long as the whorls, but a plant sent to the 
Thirsk Botanical Exchange Club by Mr. T. B. Flower, from Crewe's 
Hole, Gloucestershire, bears just the same relation io the ordinary 
foi'ui that M. paludosa bears to M, sativa. 
VOL. Iir. rAlTGUST 1, 1865.] S 
