MINT NOTES 



117 



(o) forma cana Fraser (1927, 228). 



Fraser's specimens, at Kew, indicate that this form is a hirsute variant of var. major 

 sensu Fraser. The leaves are ovate-lanceolate, grey-white with matted pile on the under- 

 surface. The whole plant is generally rather hoary, and agrees with Fraser's description^ 

 and, apart from its hairiness, with Sole's figure of his var. major {Mentha aquatica major). 



3. Forms whose leaf base is somewhat intermediate between rounded and attenuate 



(p) M. dunensis Strail (1887, 102). 



Tige . . . couverte de longs poils etales . . . Feuilles tres velues sur les deux 

 faces . . . elliptiques, aigues ou subaigues, arrondies a leur base et un peu dicurrentes 

 sur les petioles, de a 3 a 5 cent, de longeur sur 2 J de largeur, peu profondement dentees,. 

 a dents aigues et ecartees . . . 



This " variety", originally described from terrain reclaimed from the sea, can perhaps 

 be applied to certain forms from Braunton Burrows and similar habitats. It is a very 

 hairy water mint, with elliptic, subacute leaves, basally rounded or narrowed to the petiole^ 

 and with i shallow but sharp and well-spaced serratures. One would imagine that var. 

 grandidentata, in a reduced state, would produce a form such as this, though this latter 

 variety would not, according to its description (above), apply to examples with an attenuate 

 leaf base. With regard to specimens from Braunton Burrows with a rounded leaf base, 

 I must leave it to others to decide whether they are to be classed as M. dunensis or reduced 

 forms of var. grandidentata. 



(q) var. inciso-serrata (Strail) Briquet (1891, 80). 

 M. inciso-serrata Strail (1887, 101). 



M. aquatica var. foliis inciso-serratis Wirtgen, Herb. Ment. Rhen., ed. 3, No. 37. 



Plante robuste . . . Tige couverte de poils refiechis ... a rameaux ascendants^ 

 allonges et fioriferes. Feuilles moderement ovees, vertes et herissees sur les deux faces, 

 tres aigues ou un peu acuminees au sommet, tres convexes d la partie inferieure, tres 

 brievement attenuees, suharrondies ou arrondies d leur base . . . serrature consistant 

 de dents assez nombreuses, i irregulieres, saillantes, formant des triangles hauts de 

 1-3-2 mm., ondules ou dentes exterieurement, d sommets aigus ou legerement etalis^ 

 separes par une distance de 4-6 mm. Capitules ordinairement hirissees. 



The chief character for this variety is clearly the deeply-cut (incised), salient serra- 

 tures. Briquet's above description follows that of Strail closely, the latter describing the 

 serratures as profondement incisees-serrees, d dents tres aigues et irregulierement ecartees. 

 The specimen in the Oxford herbarium, which was thus identified by Briquet and qualified 

 with the word forma, corresponds quite well with the description though the serratures 

 are rather more salient than they are deep. This also applies to Wirtgen' s specimens 

 at the British Museum, whose serratures are also more irregular in their depth. I possess 

 an example from Kempsford, Glos. v.c. 33 (C. C. Townsend), which has very irregular 

 serratures, some of them gashes to a depth of 5 mm., and which can be loosely regarded as 

 var. inciso-serrata. Such a water mint is extremely strange in appearance, and this variety 

 is perhaps easy of identification. But the variation in serrature characters is unending. 



(r) var. nicaeensis Briquet (1891, 97). 



. . . Tige robuste, i rameuse, rougedtre, pourvue surtout sur les angles d'un 

 indument relativement peu scabre . . . Petiole velu, atteignant 2-5 cm. de longeur 

 dans les regions moyennes de la tige. Feuilles ovees-elliptiques, allongees, ayant leur 



