646 



THE LABIATE FAMILY. 



Fig. 773. 



2 feet high, erect, slightly branched, and, 

 as well as the whole plant, more or less 

 hoary with a short close down. Leaves 

 closely sessile, broadly lanceolate or 

 narrow-ovate. Flowers small and nume- 

 rous, in dense cylindrical spikes, 1 to 2 

 inches long, usually several together, 

 forming an oblong terminal panicle. 



In wet pastures, and waste places, 

 along ditches, etc., in temperate and 

 southern Europe and Russian and cen- 

 tral Asia, but does not extend far north. 

 In Britain, it appears to be confined to 

 England and Ireland, and rare in the 

 northern counties, the few Scotch loca- 

 lities indicated belonging more probably 

 to the following. Fl. summer, rather 

 late. 



2. Round-leaved Mint. Mentha rotundifolia, Linn. 



(Fig. 774.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 446.) 



An erect perennial, like the horse M., 

 but coarser, greener, and more hairy. 

 Leaves broadly ovate or orbicular, much 

 wrinkled, green above and whitish un- 

 derneath. Spikes of flowers terminal 

 and cylindrical, more slender than in the 

 last, 1 to 2 inches or rather more in 

 length, forming a leafy, somewhat spread- 

 ing panicle. Flowers small, pale pink or 

 sometimes white. 



Nearly as widely diffused over Eu- 

 rope and temperate Asia as the last, but 

 rather more of a western plant. It 

 spreads also more readily as an accom- 

 paniment of cultivation. In Britain, 

 rather more common than the horse M., 

 extending into Scotland and Ireland, 

 but probably in many cases introduced. 

 Fl. summer, rather late. Specimens oc- 

 cur occasionally so nearly intermediate between the two species that 

 it is difficult to say to which they belong unless seen growing in masses. 



Fig. 774. 



