MINT CALAMINT. 223 



The Hairy Mint (M. hirsiita), is, perhaps, the handsomest 

 of the family. Its pale lilac flowers grow both in heads and 

 whorls, its leaves are ovate, and the whole plant is downy. 

 It grows pretty commonly. My piece was gathered near a 

 well in Wensleydale. 



The Horse Mint has a shaggy spike and pointed leaves, 

 which are woolly beneath. 



The Bound-leaved Mint (M.rotundifolia), has an acrid smell, 

 and its stamens are very prominent. 



The stem of the Tall Bed Mint is zigzag and smooth ; and 

 that of the Bushy Bed Mint nearly so. We have not found 

 specimens of these plants. 



But which of us does not " know a bank where the wild 

 Thyme grows ? " I know twenty such. Most fully do I sym- 

 pathise in the love that the ancients had for the smell of this 

 flower. "When they wished to praise any author they said he 

 smelt of Thyme. The Greeks considered it as an emblem of 

 activity, and it is certainly an incentive to the practice of it 

 among the bee-folk. Sheep that have browsed where it grows 

 yield the best mutton, and it was considered to improve veni- 

 son greatly (Thymus serpyllum). The plant is too familiar to 

 need description. 



The Basil Thyme (T. acinos), is a pretty plant ; recumbent 

 like the Wild Thyme, but with stiff stems, and bluish-grey 

 flowers, beautifully spotted with purple. Like the Mints, this 

 family have four stamens, two long and two short ; and scented 

 leaves. Those of the Basil Thyme are broad and pointed. I 

 found it in chalk stubble fields in Wiltshire. 



The Calamint I have not found ; but I have a specimen of 

 the Lesser Calamint (Calammta nepeta), which it so closely 

 resembles as to be considered by Sir J. E. Smith hardly a 

 separate species. It is a shrubby plant, with broad, serrated 

 leaves, and numerous whorls of lilac flowers on the forked stems. 

 It grows on the road between Patrick Brompton and Crakehall. 



The Marjoram (Origanum vulgare), of kitchen celebrity 



