116 



MEN 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



MEN 



expected from the great warmth and pungency of ils taste. 

 Native of watery places in various parts of England; but 

 seems not to have been found wild any where else. 



12. Mentha Sativa; Marsh Whorled Mint. Flowers in 

 whorls; leaves.ovate, sharpish, serrate; stamina longer than 

 the corolla. Stem upright; leaves on winged footstalks, ovate, 

 serrate, pubescent; peduncles and calix hairy; root throwing 

 out long, creeping, horizontal shoots, and one erect hairy 

 stem, furnished all the way up to the flowering part with 

 shortish, axillary, leafy branches. This is suspected to be a 

 variety of the ninth species, (the Round-headed Mint.) It 

 flowers in August and September. 



13. Mentha Gentilis ; Bushy Red Mint. Flowers in whorls; 

 leaves ovate-lanceolate, acute, nearly sessile, scarcely hairy; 

 peduncles perfectly smooth; teeth of the calix hairy. Stems 

 several, erect, growing in tufts, about eighteen inches high, 

 with harsh and somewhat hairy angles ; corolla pale purple. 

 There is a variety of this species, having the same delightful 

 scent as Basil Native of several parts of Europe, in watery 

 places, and by the sides of rivulets. Found near Waltham- 

 stow, and on a small common at Saham in Norfolk. 



14. Mentha Arvensis; Corn Mint. Flowers in whorls; 

 leaves ovate, acute, serrate; stamina equalling the corolla; 

 stem much branched, diffuse. The whole plant is covered with 

 soft white hairs pointing downwards. It prevents the coagu- 

 lation of milk ; and when cows have eaten it, as they will do 

 largely at the end of summer when pastures are bare, their 

 milk can hardly be made to yield cheese ; a circumstance 

 which sometimes puzzles the dairy maids. Native of many 

 parts of Europe, in watery places and moist corn-fields. 



15. Mentha Austriaca; A ustrian Mint. Flowers in whorls, 

 all the segments of the corolla blunt; leaves subovate, villose; 

 stamina shorter than the corolla. This very much resembles 

 the preceding, but differs from it in being of a lower stature, 

 in its smell, the shortness of the stamina, its greater hoariness, 

 &c. Stems half a foot high and more, upright, almost simple. 

 It flowers in July and August. Native of Austria, in the 

 islands of the Danube ; and probably of Piedmont. 



16. Mentha Canadensis; Canadian Mint. Flowers in 

 whorls; leaves lanceolate-serrate, petioled, hairy; stamina 

 equalling the corolla. Native of Canada. 



17. Mentha Pulegium ; Pennyroyal. Flowers in whorls ; 

 leaves ovate, blunt, subcrenate; stems roundish, creeping ; 

 stamina longer than the corolla. Root fibrous, perennial. 

 This is much smaller than any of the preceding, and is known 

 by its prostrate stems, and numerous dense whorls of purplish 

 flowers, sometimes white, without bractes. Native of watery 

 places in various parts of Europe. There is a variety called 

 Spanish Pennyroyal, with erect stems and larger whorls of 

 flowers, and longer and narrower leaves, which has almost 

 superseded our wild one in the markets, because the erect 

 stems are more easily tied in bunches, and it comes earlier 

 to flower, and has a brighter appearance. Pennyroyal has 

 a warm pungent flavour resembling Mint, but more acrid and 

 less agreeable. Its active principle is an essential oil, of a 

 more volatile nature than that of Mint, coming over hastily 

 with water at the beginning of the distillation, and rising also 

 in great 'part with highly rectified spirit; in taste very pun- 

 gent, and of a strong smell; when newly drawn, of a yel- 

 lowish colour with a cast of green, turning brownish by age. 

 It certainly possesses the general properties of Mint, but is 

 supposed to be of less efficacy as a stomachic, but more use- 

 ful as a carminative and emmenagogue, and more commonly 

 employed in hysterical affections. We are told by Boyle and 

 others, that it has been successfully used in the hooping- 

 cough ; but the chief purpose to which it has been long ad- 



ministered is promoting the uterine evacuation. For this 

 purpose Haller recommends an infusion of the herb with 

 steel in white wine. In the opinion of Dr. Cullen, however, 

 Mint is more effectual than Pennyroyal, and nothing, he 

 says, but the neglect of established principles, could have 

 made physicians regard this as a peculiar medicine distinct 

 from the Mints; and accordingly this plant is less frequently 

 used now than formerly. Lewis says, it is not so proper as 

 Mint to be administered in common sicknesses or weaknesses 

 of the stomach, but is much more efficacious in windy com- 

 plaints, hysterics, and disorders of the breast. Meyrick 

 adds, the distilled water, a strong infusion, or the juice fresh 

 expressed from the plant, is excellent for obstructions of the 

 menses. A conserve of the young tops acts as a diuretic, has 

 been many times very serviceable in the gravel, and is also 

 useful for the jaundice, and all other complaints arising from 

 obstructions of the viscera. This, and the next species, both 

 propagate very fast by their creeping stems, which may be 

 cut off and planted in fresh beds, allowing them at least a 

 foot distance every way : or, the young shoots planted in 

 the spring will take root like Mint. The best time for this 

 work is in September, that the plants may be rooted before 

 winter. 



18. Mentha Cervina; Hyssop-leaved Mint. Flowers in 

 whorls ; bractes palmate ; leaves linear ; stamina longer than 

 the corolla. Stems erect, nearly two feet high, sending out 

 side-branches all their length ; whorls large, dense, many- 

 flowered. There is a variety with white flowers, which grows 

 taller than the common one with purple flowers. The scent 

 is not quite so strong as that of Pennyroyal, but it is by gome 

 preferred to it for medicinal uses; it is called Hart's Penny- 

 royal. Native of the south of France, and Italy. 



19. Mentha Borealis. Leaves petiolate, oval-lanceolate, 

 very acute; flowers verticillate; stamina standing out: flowers 

 pale purple, appearing in July and August. Grows on the 

 banks of rivers and springs, from Canada to Pennsylvania. 



20. Mentha Tenuis. Leaves lanceolate-ovate, subsessile; 

 spikes slender, interrupted with very small whorls ; stamina 

 not standing out; flowers white, appearing from June to 

 August. Native of wet places near springs, from Pennsyl- 

 vania to Georgia. 



Mentzelia; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth five-leaved, 

 spreading, superior, deciduous ; leaflets lanceolate, concave, 

 acuminate. Corolla: petals five, obovate, acuminate, a little 

 longer than the calix, spreading. Stamina: filamenta many, 

 (thirty,) the length of the calix, erect, bristle-shaped, the 

 ten outer membranaceous at top; antheree roundish. Pistil: 

 germen cylindric, very long, inferior ; style filiform, the length 

 of the stamina; stigma simple, blunt. Pericarp: capsule 

 cylindric, long, one-celled, three-valved at top. Seeds: 

 about six, oblong, angular. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix: five-leaved. Corolla: five-petalled. Capsule: infe- 

 rior, cylindric, many-seeded. The species are, 



1. Mentzelia Aspera; stem branched; flowers axillary; 

 petals notched, obtuse. Brown says this plant is very com- 

 mon in all the dry savannas about Kingston, and that it seems 

 to be an annual, and seldom rises above three or four feet in 

 height. He describes the fruit as a succulent cylindric cap- 

 sule, well furnished with short, rough, uncinated bristles, 

 like the rest of the plant, and containing only three or four 

 rugged seeds, compressed on one side, and disposed at some 

 distance from each other in the pulp. As this, and the next, 

 are annual plants, which perish soon after the seeds are 

 ripe, the seeds must be sown on a hot-bed early in the spring, 

 that the plants may be brought forward early in the season, 



