CLASS XIV. ORDER X.J MENTHA. 803 



from either we have our doubts, for we find so many intermediate 

 links between these species, as to render it difficult to know what are 

 the limits of one, and where the other commences. 



8. M. arven'sis, Linn. (Fig, 921.) Corn or Field Mint. Leaves 

 petiolated, ovate, ovate lanceolate, or elliptic lanceolate, serrated ; 

 flowers in distant whorls, shorter than the leaves ; calyx campanulate, 

 elongated in fruit, and as well as the pedicles smooth or slightly hairy. 



English Botany, t. 2119. English Flora, vol. iii. p. 86. -Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 228. M.agrestis, Sole. English Botany, 

 t. 2120. 



/3. glabriuscula, Koch. (Fig. 922.) Leaves ovate, acute; pedicles 

 and lower part of the calyx smooth. 



M. genlilis, Linn. English Botany, t. 2118. English Flora, vol. 

 iii. p. 84. Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 227. M. arvensis, $. 

 Lindley, Synopsis, p. 201. 



y. rubra. (Fig. 923.) Leaves ovate lanceolate; pedicles and lower 

 part of the calyx smooth. 



M. rubra, Sra. English Botany, t. 1413. English Flora, vol. iii. 

 p. 83. Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 227. M. arvensis, y, 

 Lindley, Synopsis, p. 200. 



Root fibrous, with spreading suckers. Stem erect, or spreading, 

 from one to three feet high, simple, or branched, square, smooth, or 

 more or less clothed with reflexed hairs. Leaves ovate, ovate acute, 

 or ovate lanceolate, spreading, on short footstalks, sharply and some- 

 what unequally serrated, paler beneath, nearly smooth, or clethed 

 with soft pubescence. Inflorescence of numerous flowered whorls, 

 sessile in the axis of the upper leaves, or on short stalks, the pedicles 

 round, smooth, or with unequal spreading hairs. Calyx campanulate, 

 or somewhat tubular, with broadish teeth, mostly smooth in the lower 

 half, and hairy above, the teeth always ciliated. Bracteas small, 

 lanceolate, hairy. Corolla pale, purplish blue, mostly hairy exter- 

 nally. Stamens inclosed, or protruding. Style prominent. 



Habitat. Corn fields, especially in a sandy soil ; banks of ditches 

 and wet places, frequent ; y. less common. 



Perennial; flowering from June to September. 



This is an extremely variable species, both as to size and hairiness, 

 owing to the more or less luxuriant soil and situation in which it has 

 grown. In some of the almost innumerable shades of variety which 

 are found, and especially the more hairy ones, which have the pedicles 

 and calyx hairy, it is almost impossible to distinguish them from 

 varieties of M. saliva ; and we are by no means certain of our 

 correctness in referring M. rubra, Sm. to this, rather than to M. 

 saliva. 



The odour of this species is much less agreeable than most of the 

 others. The variety . is occasionally found with the leaves variegated 



