LABIATE, (mint family.) 303 



ftxUlary 1 - 3-flowered peduncles. (Name from lo-or, egucd, and dv0os, flower, 

 referring to the almost regular corolla.) 



1. I. caernleus, Michx. — Gravelly banks, Maine to Illinois, and south- 

 ward. July, Aug. — Corolla 2" long. 



.4. MENTHA, L. Mint. 



Calyx bell-shaped or tubular, 5-toothed, equal or nearly so. Corolla with a 

 short included tube ; the bell-shaped border somewhat equally 4-cleft ; the upper 

 lobe broadest, entire or notched at the apex. Stamens i, equal, erect, distant 

 (either exserted or included in different individuals of the same species). — Odor- 

 ous herbs, with the small flowers mostly in close clusters, forming axillary capi- 

 tate whorls, sometimes approximated in interrupted spikes. Corolla pale purple 

 or whitish. (MivBrj of Theophrastus, from a Nymph of that name, fabled to 

 have been changed into Mint by the jealous Proserpine.) 



1. M. vfRiDis, L. (Spearmint.) Nearly smooth; leaves almost sessile, 

 ovate-lanceolate, unequally sen-ate ; whorls of flowers approximate in loose pani- 

 clcd spikes. 1|. — Wet places ; common. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. ni. piPEniTA, L. (Peppermint.) Smooth leaves petioled, ovate-oblong, 

 acute, serrate ; whorls crowded in short obtuse spikes, interrupted at the base. 1). 

 — Low grounds, and along brooks : less naturalized than the last. Aug. — Mul- 

 tiplying, like the Speai-mint, by running under-ground shoots. (Nat. from Eu.) 



3. M. ARvi;NSi8, L. (Corn Mint.) Stem, hairy downwards; leaves peti- 

 oled, ovate or oblong, serrate ; the floral similar and longer than the globose 

 remote whorls of flowers. 1|. — Fields, Penn. and Ohio: rare. — Odor like 

 that of decayed cheese. (Adv. from Eu.) 



4. M. Canadensis, L. (Wild Mint.) Stems ascending (l°-2° 

 high), whitish-hairy; leaves petioled, oblong, tapering to both ends, the upper- 

 most lanceolate; flowers crowded in globular axillary whorls. (Odor like Penny- 

 royal). Var. glabrXta, Benth,, is smoothish, the leaves usually less tapering 

 at the base, " the smell pleasanter, more like that of Monarda " [Porter). (M. 

 borealis, MicJix.) )l — Wet banks of brooks. New England to Kentucky, and 

 northward. July - Sept. 



5. tYCOPUS, L. Water Horehound. 



Calyx bell-shaped, 4 - 5-toothed, naked in the throat. Corolla bell-shaped, 

 scarcely longer than the calyx, nearly equally 4-lobed. Stamens 2, distant ; the 

 upper pair either sterile rudiments or wanting. Nutlets with thickened mar- 

 gins. — Perennial low herbs, resembling Mints, with sharply toothed or pin- 

 natifid leaves, the floral ones similar and much longer than the dense axillary 

 whorls of small mostly white flowers. (Name compounded of Xu/cor, a wolf, and 

 TToBs, fliot, from some fancied likeness in the leaves.) 



1. I,, Virginicus, L. (Bugle-weed.) Stem obtusely 4-anglcd (6'- 

 18' high), producing long and slender runners from the base ; leaves oblong or 

 ovate-lanceolate, toothed, entire towards the base, short-petioled ; calyx-teeth 4, 



