61 



ed, but without the least tapering or acumination ; at other times 

 rounded at the apex or obtuse. Cymes many-flowered, the lower on 

 much shorter stalks than in the other. Calyx similar, but scarcely 

 coloured, the upper teeth simply porrected or ascending, not, as in 

 the last, at all recurved, or even upright. Corolla scarcely half the 

 size of the other's, and paler, with a few spots or blotches of dark red 

 on the lower lip, the segments of which are very unequal and distinct, 

 the middle one greatly exceeding the two lateral in length, cordate 

 and subemarginate, its apical lobes, from their projecting so far be- 

 yond the lateral segments, not overlapped by or overlapping these 

 last, nor concealing the deep cleft between them. Nuts minute, pale 

 brown, roundish ovoid, thickly dotted with depressed points. 



I have only to add, that our new plant is, as it were, a transition 

 species between C. officinalis and C. Clinopodium (Clinopodium vul- 

 gare, Linn.), uniting the lax cymose inflorescence of the former with 

 the general habit and structure of corolla of the latter. The root, al- 

 so, is like that of the last, slender and creeping, not as in C. officina- 

 lis, stout and simply branched, or without runners, a most valuable 

 distinction, first pointed out by my friend Dr. T. B. Salter, of this 

 town. In the large, truly ovate and acutely serrated leaves, great size 

 of the blossoms, which appear to have a similarly constructed corolla, 

 and in the grateful, purely peppermint odour of the herbage, our Isle 

 of Wight plant makes an approach to C grandiflora, for which, as I 

 have before said, it was at first mistaken by myself. That species is, 

 however, truly distinct in its more coarsely and deeply serrated leaves, 

 veiy few-flowered verticillasters, still larger blossoms, and notably by 

 the very much larger, most conspicuous calyx. 



The specimen of Melissa Calamintha in the Linnaean herbarium, 

 which I have consulted expressly to determine, if possible, the syno- 

 nyms of our British species, seems rather to be a fragment of M. Ne- 

 peta, diff"ering from another indubitable specimen of the latter, and 

 equally authenticated by Linnaeus himself, chiefly in the relative 

 length of the common flower- stalks ; almost the only character given 

 by Linnaeus in the original edition of the 'Species Plantarum,' for dis- 

 tinguishing the two : thus clearly showing an imperfect acquaintance 

 with the living plants, neither of which is an inhabitant of Sweden.* 



* I confess myself to have always entertained considerable doubts of the specific 

 difference of C. oflBcinalis and C. Nepeta, from inability to find any good pennanent 

 characters, beyond a certain difference in size and habit between them ; an opinion in 

 which I am supported by more than one of our leading botanists. 



