LABIATE FAMILY 381 



17. Eallota. — Calyx funnel-shaped, with 5 broad, spreading, 

 priclvly teeth ; nntliers smooth, bursting leiigthwise. 



***** Slaiiii-iis 4, parallel, the 2 zipper sliortey ; nutlets united, 



wrinkled 



iS. Tei'crium. — r(7/i'.v tubular, 5-toothcd ; upper lip of (-yro//a 

 deeply 2 -cleft. 



19. AjucA. — Calyx ovoid, 5-clel"t ; upper lip of corolla very 

 short, notched. 



I. Mlntha (Mint). — Strongly-scented herbs, with creeping 

 rhizomes and rnnners ; jhnvers small, in many-flowered whorls, 

 often crowded, with small bracts, into terminal spikes ; calyx with 

 5 equal teeth ; corolla campanulate, nearly polysymmetric, 4-lobed, 

 with a very short tube ; stamens 4 ; equal, erect, distant, smooth ; 

 nutlets free, smooth. (Name, the Classical name of the group.) 



* The species are ^'ery difficult to distinguish, graduating into 

 one another, and apparently also forming hybrids. 



t TI horls forming ienninal spikes, loitii minute bracts 



I. M. rotundifc'lia (Round-leaved Mint).; — A viscid plant, i — 3 

 feet high ; stem somewhat woody, usually much branched : leaves 

 sessile, broadly elliptical, remarkably bluiit, often cordate, much 

 wrinkled, and nearly smooth above, shaggy beneath : flowers lilac 

 or white, in dense, cylindrical, slightly interrupted spikes : bracts 

 lanceolate ; corolla hairy. — ■\^'aste ground : not common. The 

 scent is acrid and powerful, but not agreeable. — f'l. August, 

 ..September. Perennial. 



::. M. alopccuroides, intermediate between the preceding and 

 following species, has its runners underground ; its leaves slightly 

 stalked and very hairy, but not felted, beneath, and its spikes 

 short and stout, or conical-cylindrical. —^Chiefly in the east of 

 England ; rare. — Fl. August, September. Perennial. 



3. .1/. longifolia (Horse !Mint). — A strong- but sweet-scented 

 plant, usually growing in masses, 2 — 3 feet' high, with sub-sessile, 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute, serrate leaves, more or less hairy above, 

 silky and white beneath ; flowers lilac, in a dense, slender, nearly 

 or quite uninterrupted spike ; bracts awl-shaped : corolla hairy. — 

 Damp waste ground .; frequent. — Fl. August — September. Peren- 

 nial. 



4.* j\l. viridis (Spearmint). — Probably a cultivated form of the 

 preceding, escaped from gardens ; leaves sessile, glabrous, lanceo- 

 late, acute, serrate; spike slender, cylindrical, interrupted; ccrrnlla 

 smooth. — Wet places ; rare. — This is the form commonly cultivated 



