LAMIACEiE. 503 



Description. — Rhizome creeping. Stem nearly erect, quadrangular, branched, and 

 usually of a purplish colour, with short recurved hairs, about two feet in height. Leaves 

 opposite, on short petioles, of a dark-green colour, ovate, serrate, acute, smooth, and 

 shining above, and paler beneath ; they are never hairy, but the midrib is furnished with 

 short hairs. The flowers are in a terminal, lax, interrupted spike, leafy below. The 

 bracts are lanceolate and fringed. The peduncles are either smooth or slightly hairy 

 above. The calyx is slender, furrowed, and covered with pellucid dots, the base quite 

 smooth, five-cleft, with the segments dark purple and fringed. The corolla is funnel- 

 shaped, longer than the calyx, and of a purplish colour. The stamens are subulate, 

 straight. The ovary is four-lobed, superior, supporting a slender style, longer than the 

 corolla, and terminated by a bifid stigma. 



Peppermint is a native of Europe, and has become naturalized in some 

 places in this country ; it grows in wet places, flowering the latter part of the 

 summer. There are several varieties of it, and Sir J. E. Smith states that 

 what is called Peppermint in the north of Europe, is merely a variety of M. 

 hirsuta, having a similar odour, and is the M. piperita of the Linneean Her- 

 barium. The whole plant is officinal. It has a peculiar and well-known 

 aromatic odour, and a pungent, somewhat bitter taste, followed by a sensa- 

 tion of coolness. It gives out its properties to alcohol, and partly to water. 

 It contains Volatile oil, a Bitter principle, Resin, &c. 



The Volatile oil on which its properties depend is colourless, but becomes 

 yellowish or even reddish by age. Its specific gravity is 0*902. It has a 

 powerful aromatic odour, and an extremely pungent taste. The camphor it 

 contains is isomeric with the oil. 



Medical Properties. — Aromatic, carminative, and stimulant. It is much 

 used to expel flatus, to obviate nausea, relieve pain in the bowels, and to dis- 

 guise the unpleasant taste of other medicines. The usual form of adminis- 

 tration is in the form of the Essence, which is a solution of a drachm of the 

 oil, in an ounce of alcohol. The plant is also used in infusion. 



2. M. viridis, Linn. — Spikes cylindrical, interrupted. Leaves sessile, lanceolate, acute, 

 naked. Bracts bristle -like, somewhat hairy, as well as the teeth of the calyx. Stem 

 smooth. 



Linn., Sp. PL 804; Eng. Bot. xxxiv. 2424; Woodville, ii. t. 121; 

 Stokes, 311; Stephenson and Churchill, i. 45; Bentham, Labial., 173; 

 Lindley, Flor. Med. 486. 



Common Names. — Mint ; Spearmint ; Green mint. 



Foreign Names. — Menthe verte, Fr. ; Menta Romana, It. ; Frahen- 

 munze, Ger. 



Description. — Rhizome creeping. Stem erect, branched, acutely-angular, smooth, 

 sometimes purplish, from two to three feet high. The leaves are of a bright-green colour, 

 lanceolate, nearly sessile, opposite, and sometimes a little hairy beneath. The stems and 

 branches are terminated by long spikes of verticillate flowers, the whorls of which are 

 somewhat distant, and furnished with narrow, lanceolate bracts ; the pedicels are smooth. 

 The calyx is campanulate, usually smooth, with five equal teeth, and sprinkled, equally 

 with the leaves, with minute dots. The corolla is funnel-shaped, smooth, of a light-purple 

 colour ; the stamens are generally shorter than the corolla, with roundish anthers. The 

 ovary is four-lobed, with a filiform style, having a bifid stigma. The seeds are four, 

 small, and often abortive. 



Spearmint is a native of Europe and is extensively naturalized in many 

 parts of the United States, growing in moist situations. The whole plant is 

 employed ; it has a peculiar and pleasant odour, which is not as powerful as 

 that of Peppermint ; the taste is aromatic and slightly bitter. Its properties 

 depend on a Volatile oil, besides which it contains a Bitter extractive. The 

 oil is of a pale yellowish colour, becoming darker by age. 



