249 
of  growth  in  undisturbed  garden  soil,  and  seems  to  deserve 
varietal  distinction.— E.F.L. 
Also  sent  by  Rev.  E.  E.  Linton  from  his  garden  at 
Edmondsbam. 
M.  alopecuroides  Hull.  Origin:  Essex.  Cult.  Clifton, 
Aug.  14,  1908. — J.  W.  White.  Yes;  a  very  hairy  form, 
which  strongly  bears  out  the  Rev.  E.  F.  Linton’s  suggestion 
that  M.  alopecuroides  is  M.  aquatica  x  rotundifolia.— 
E.S.M.  Yes;  with  spikes  longer  and  more  slender  than 
many  that  I  have  seen.— E.F.L.  It  is  a  pity  Mr.  White 
does  not  give  the  Essex  locality  whence  this  came.  I 
believe  Mr.  Boulger  many  years  ago  shewed  me  specimens 
at  the  Brit.  Museum  from  Dale’s  Herbarium  gathered  in 
Essex,  but  I  am  not  sure  of  this.  It  is  not  recorded  in 
Gibson’s  “Flora  of  Essex.”  Dr.  Boswell  Syme  states  that 
the  only  continental  specimen  he  has  seen  is  one  labelled 
M.  dulcissima  Dum.,  and  remarks  that  “  Mr.  Baker  and 
most  British  botanists  place  this  (i.e.,  alopecuroides)  with 
M.  sylvestris while  he  holds  that  it  belongs  to  the 
rotundifoliae.  The  Abbe  Strail  in  “  Classif.  des  Menthes 
en  Belgique,”  p.  69,  places  it  under  his  “  Group  1,  Rotun¬ 
difoliae”  (i.e.,  dulcissima)  and  gives  “  M.  velutina  Lej. 
Herb.  No.  2,  fol.  1  and  2  ”  as  synonym.  Strail  gives  four 
places  in  Belgium  where  dulcissima  grows.  In  the  2nd 
ed.  of  his  Man.  Brit.  Bot.,  p.  243  (1847),  Babington  calls 
the  ,  British  plant  “  M.  rotundifolia,  var.  velutina 
Deseglise  in  his  “  Revision  des  Menthes  de  l’herbier  de 
Lejeune  ”  does  not  give  the  plant  as  occurring  (as  dulcis¬ 
sima)  in  that  herbarium,  unless  it  be  the  Fol.  2  “  reced. 
ad  M.  rotundifoliam  du  velutina ,”  to  which  Strail  refers 
dulcissima.  Syme  (Eng.  Bot.  3rd  ed.,  VII.,  p.  5)  remarks 
“  Sole  states  that  Aiton  had  it  sent  to  him  by  a  correspon¬ 
dent  who  found  it  both  in  Kent  and  Essex.”  Messrs. 
Hanbury  and  Marshall  do  not  admit  it  as  a  Kentish  plant 
in  their  “FI.  of  Kent”  (1899),  p.  270,  but  say  that  “Syme’s 
account  is  too  vague  to  allow  of  its  admission  to  our  list 
at  present.”- — A.B. 
With  reference  to  the  Essex  locality,  Mr.  White 
writes:  “The  root  came  through  Mr.  Briggs  from  Plymouth 
to  my  friend,  Mr.  David  Fry.  I  understood  that  Briggs 
had  received  it  from  Essex,  but  know  not  under  what 
circumstances  it  grew  in  that  county.  Possibly  it  was 
there  an  alien  or  denizen.” 
