LABIATE. 



649 



out a long course of experiments and observations made on a succes- 

 sion of seedlings, which are as rare in this as in other species of the 

 genus. 



As widely spread as the corn M., all over temperate and north- 

 ern Europe, and Russian Asia, but growing usually in moister si- 

 tuations and richer soils. Common in Britain. Fl. summer and au- 

 tumn. 



7. Corn Mint. Mentha arvensis, Linn. (Fig. 779.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 2119, M. agrestis, t. 2120, and M.gentilis, t. 449 and 2118.) 



Usually a low, spreading, branched 

 perennial, more or less hairy, with a 

 creeping rootstock, and annual stems, 

 from 6 inches to a foot long, rarely ris- 

 ing erect to the height of 1 or 2 feet. 

 Leaves stalked, ovate, and toothed, 1 to 

 2 inches long, or the upper ones smaller. 

 Flowers all in axillary whorls, mostly 

 shorter than the leafstalks ; the last pair 

 of leaves without any or with only very 

 few flowers. Calyx campanulate, sel- 

 dom above a line long, with short teeth. 

 Corolla twice as long. 



In fields and moist places, in tempe- 

 rate and northern Europe and Russian 

 Asia : rarer to the southward, but in- 

 troduced with cultivation into many other 

 parts of the globe. Abundant in Britain, although less so than the 

 water M., and, like that species, becomes rarer towards the north of 

 Scotland. Fl. summer and autumn. It varies much in stature, in 

 hairiness, in the size of the leaves, etc. 



Fig. 779. 



8. Pennyroyal Mint. Mentha 3?ulegium, Linn. (Fig. 780.) 



(Eng. Bot. t. 1026. Pennyroyal.) 



A prostrate, much branched perennial, with the leaves very much 

 smaller than in any other Mint, being seldom above half an inch long, 

 and quite entire or seldom slightly crenate ; the floral ones still smaller, 

 and often recurved. Flowers in dense axillary whorls, like those of 

 the corn M., except that the calyx-teeth are less regular, with the 

 mouth closed by hairs, and the upper lobe of the corolla is more 



