30 
Mentha citrata Ehrh. Marshy roadside, Priddy on Mendip, 
North Somerset, Sept. 19, 1929. I have been asked to say 
how my Mentha citrata is to be distinguished from forms of 
M. piperita such as M. vulgaris Sole or the var. subcordata 
Fraser. Simple questions like that, involving similar problems, 
have been repeatedly discussed since Ehrhart described his 
plant in 1792, and were never easily disposed of. My view 
of this Mendip plant is that it agrees not only with Ehrhart ’s 
original description but with that supplemented later by French 
and other authors. It differs from M. piperita by its sweet 
scent, not greatly mint-like but recalling the odour of citron or 
bergamot ; by its low stature and branching habit — the 
branches spreading widely although not equalling the main 
stem ; and by its short, blunt, oblong inflorescence. If it be 
objected that M. citrata was described as glabrous while 
these specimens carry a few scattered hairs, the reply is that 
both M. odorata Sole and M. adspersa Mch. with “ foliis 
glabrioribus ” and “ tiges presque glabres ” are accepted as 
synonymous with M. citrata ; and that M. Ernest Malinvaud 
(. Bulletin de la Societe Botanique de France, tome XXVII, p. 51, 
where these matters are treated at length) says “ II est vrai 
que les jeunes tiges de M . citrata presentent souvent quelques 
poils clairsemes, qui disparaissent sur la plante adulte.” — 
Jas. W. White. These are very fine specimens, which have 
had all the benefit of direct sunlight, good soil and a sufficiency 
of moisture ; but I cannot see M. citrata in them. The inflor- 
escence is always a spike, through a short one, as in all the var- 
ieties more allied to M. vidgaris Sole than to M . piperita Linn. 
Some of the larger leaves of the main axis measure 5'7 x 2’7 
— 3 cm. My specimens of M. citrata have a small capitate 
inflorescence ; and the leaves measure 4‘2-8'3 x 3' 5-5' 5 cm., 
so they are broader in proportion to their length than the Priddy 
specimens, which I call M. piperita L. var. subcordata. — J. 
Fraser. Surely this is best treated as a variety of the species 
or hybrid M. piperita L. Mr. White, in FI. Bristol, p. 468, has 
some interesting remarks on its behaviour under cultivation. 
— H. W. Pugsley. 
Mentha sativa L. Wet roadside, Poulner, near Ringwood, 
S. Hampshire, Aug. 1, 1929. I should much value a more 
exact determination. — I. A. Williams. A form of the very 
polymorphic M. sativa L. var. paludosa (Sole). The leaves are 
the most constant part of the plant, being narrowed to both 
ends, but most tapered to the apex. The inflorescence is 
