R. A. GRAPIAM 



of order out of chaos. The great tangle of the past is thereby reduced to a basis whereon 

 future constructive work can be based. 



It may be convenient for herbarium purposes to separate the various forms into 

 different groups. I therefore give below all the varieties and forms that have been included 

 in British lists, with a few others that can be recognised by a simple character. It is 

 necessary to deal in some detail with all the varieties, etc., recognised by Fraser (1925 

 and 1927), as some of his descriptions differ in certain details from the originals - this 

 being due to Fraser's having framed his texts on examples identified by Briquet, but 

 apparently without adequate reference to the original descriptions in each case. But it 

 must be remembered that, within the reasoning of this paper, no importance is attached 

 to these varieties, etc., with the possible exception of var. nemorosa Fr. 



Distribution and status 



Water mints in the aggregate are common throughout the British Isles, being 

 recorded from every vice-county. Essentially lowland plants, they inhabit marshes, 

 ditches, river-sides, and other types of habitat where damp conditions prevail, and they 

 tend to become stunted or die out in the wild state if the accustomed humidity becomes 

 permanently denied them. Although mentioned in certain horticultural works, they 

 do not appear to have been seriously cultivated, if at all, and it is unlikely that their status 

 is other than native - as on the Continent. Information on medical properties is rather 

 scanty, but Sole mentions the use of his M. aquatica major in cases of hysteria. 



Some well-known forms of Mentha aquatica L. 

 1. V/ith a rounded to cordate leaf -base 



(a) Mentha aquatica L., sensu stricto (see above). 



(b) var. hirsuta (Huds.) Hudson, 1778, Fl. Angl, ed. 2, 252. 



' Mentha floribus capitatis, foliis ovatis serratis subsessilibus pubescentibus, stami- 

 ■ nibus corolla longioribus.' Hudson, loc. cit. 



M. hirsuta Hudson, 1762, Fl. Angl., ed. 1; Linnaeus, 1767, Mantissa, 81 



" Differt a M. aquatica foliis magis sessilibus hirsutis; convenit staminibus corolla 

 longioribus, et toto facie. Pistillum corolla longius. Corolla profunde A-fida, fere 

 regularis. Calyces ciliati." Linnaeus, loc. cit. 



No specimen of Hudson's appears to exist. But the Linnean specimen No. 730/ 8, 

 named as hirsuta in Linnaeus' hand, agrees with the description and can be regarded as 

 typical of this variety. It is described as follows : 



Stem square, simple, reddish, covered - especially thickly above - with retrorse, 

 whitish hairs. Leaves ovate, i acute, basally subcordate, up to 3 X 2-8 cm., very hairy 

 and dark green above, paler below and thickly matted with grey-white hairs forming a 

 coarse tomentum ; nerves of the upper, and midrib of the lower surface whitish ; serratures 

 unequal in spacing, size, and shape, shallow but jagged and rather salient, up to 1 mm. 

 deep, and up to 14 in number. Petioles short, up to 8 mm. long, shaggy. Inflorescence of a 

 terminal capitulum and two pairs of axillary verticils, the upper subcontiguous with the 

 capitulum. Corolla with scattered hairs externally (not examined within). Stamens 

 exserted. Calyx and pedicels shaggy-. 



This specimen is very hirsute throughout, and thereby has a very different appearance 

 from typical M. aquatica L. But between the two there is every degree of intermediate 

 in this character, and it is impossible to draw a distinctive line. Short petioles are often 

 found in the more hirsute forms, but they are not restricted to them, and provide a most 

 unreliable character. Probably Linnaeus thought little of M. hirsuta, and many writers 



