6 



SPIKED MINTS. 



PL. II. 



3. COMMON HORSE-MINT. 



THIS Mint grows about three feet in height, the Italics are quadran- 

 gular, hairy, and green, turning reddifh as the fummer advances; they are 

 moderately branched, which, as well as the ftalks, all terminate in oblong 

 thick-let fpikes of flowers, of a white palifh-red colour; the ftamens of 

 which are always fhorter than the bloffom. The leaves are feffile, oblong, 

 and pointed, deeply fcerrated round the edges, and are of a blackifh-green 

 colour on the upper fide, and hoary and villofe underneath; they are 

 deeply furrowed or wrinkled, fomething like green fage. The whole plant 

 fmells much like fpear-mint. 



This plant differs from the foregoing, in its leaves not being near fo 

 hoary, long, and acuminated; in its fpikes being fhorter and more denfe, 

 infomuch, that the braftea appear like hairs between the flowers, not long 

 and foliaceous as in that, and does not bloflbm before the middle of Auguft ; 

 yet it is probably only a variety of the foregoing: but as it has, after the 

 cultivation of it for more than twenty years in my garden, maintained its 

 diftinclions, I thought it beft to give a figure of it; being of opinion, 

 that where varieties are permanent, it is better to defcribethem apart, than 

 to crowd them in with a fi. y. &c. For it is very confufing to a tyro in 

 particular, to fee in the fame plant one author defcribing it with long 

 acuminate hoary leaves, fmelling like a goat, &C; and another faying, the 

 leaves are broad and fmooth; and a third faying, it fmells finely of fpear- 

 mint : — he of courfe becomes puzzled, and gives the matter up. I have 

 moreover the fanction of Ray, Tournefort, and Hill, who have all acled as 

 precedents in the fame manner. 



This variety is much more common than the foregoing, being to be 

 met with in moft home-clofes, about farmers' bartons, and fuch places. I 

 obferved it by the water-fide at Bottifham-Load mill, Cambridgefhire, and 

 in a home-clofe of an inn at Hillington, Middlefex, and frequently under 

 hedges in Hertfordfhire. 



This and the preceding both poffefs fimilar qualities to the M. fyfoejlris, 

 and have always been promifcuoufly ufed for that ; but the powers of the 

 fylveftris being much more eminent, it ought always to be preferred, when- 

 ever it can be procured. 



