162 DIDYNAMIA GYMNOSPERMIA. Mentha. 



Root long, thready. Stems two or three f., square. Plant except 



cor., downy, velvet-like. Cal.-rihs strong, prominent. Spikes 



at the tops of the branches. 



In E. B., the caL, represented reversed ; the shorter teeth, (in 

 nature,) the lowermost. Cor., white, or purplish, lower lip 

 sprinkled with crimson, or purple dots. This genus marked, by 

 its notched, central lobe. 



Bruised herb aromatic, like penny-royal, (Ment. Pulegiuni.) 

 Cats delight in its odour, (except when raised from seed,) chewing 

 the young branches, and rolling in a kind of ecstacy upon the 

 plant. 



VERBE'NA. Vervain. 



V. afficindlis. Common T^. Stamens four. Spikes 

 slender, panicled. Leaves oblong, deeply cut, with 

 many clefts. Stem mostly solitary. E. B. 767- C- 

 1. 4a. V. communis. G. E. 718. 



Road sides, dry, waste ground, near villages. 

 Per. July. 



Root branching, woody. Stem curved at the base, about one f., 

 square, leafy, rough, panicled at the top. Ls. opposite, lower 

 ones three-cleft. Fl. small, stalkless ; each with a small, spear- 

 shaped hract. CaL, tubular. Cor., pale lilac. Seeds ripened, 

 marked with excavated dots. Fl.-branclies opposite. 

 Root formerly worn round the neck superstitiously, in scrophu- 

 lous cases, as a charm. Many species of Verbena have two sta- 

 mens only. The plant called by the Romans Verbena, used as a 

 token of mutual confidence between them, and their enemies : also 

 for making wreaths and brooms for their altars, and chaplets for 

 their priests : in a general sense, they called whatever was bound 

 round the altar Verbena. Billerbeck in Fl. Classica, seems to con- 

 sider our plant the same with that of the Greeks and Romans, 

 p. 7. Pliny remarks, if the dining room be sprinkled with water, 

 in which the herb has been steeped, the guests will be the merrier ! 

 G. E. 



MENTHA.' Mint. 



M. sylvestris. Horse Mint. Spikes shaggy, scarcely 

 interrupted. Leaves sharp, with deep toothed serra- 

 tures ; chiefly downy beneath. Bracteas awl-shaped. 

 Calyx hairy all over. E. B. 686. 



Waste ground. Road side between Woodstock and Stonesfield, just 

 after passing a Lodge on the outside of Woodstock Park. Bx. 

 Bayswater, near the Mill. R. W. 



' Hairs of the calyx, and flower-stalk, afford good specific distinctions, in 

 difficult cases. Sm. Lin. Tr. v. 5. 178. Herbage full of pellucid dots, lodg- 

 ing an aromatic, and stimulant oil. 



