A NEW BRITISH CALAMINT1IA 
187 
pt. iii. 433 sq. (1895), the whole group receives a rather Benthamian 
treatment, resembling that accorded by Briquet to Salvia Verbenaca. 
Ten forms previously described as species, including all the British 
plants, are placed in one aggregate species, Satureia Calamintha , 
under which are three subspecies ( silvatica , ascendens, and Nepeta ) 
divided into nine varieties. The subspecies silvatica embraces two 
varieties— a silvatica ( G . sylvatica Bromf.) and ft calaminthoides. 
The latter variety is based on Thymus calaminthoides Beichb. in 
Holle PI. Lusit.-mader. Exsicc. (1828), and of this C. bcetica Boiss. 
& Beut. is made a synonym. Holl’s plant, which came from Madeira, 
was not described by Beichenbach, and the validity of its name, 
which is included in a list published in Hooker’s Journal of Botany, 
i. 19 (1834), is doubtful. The Madeiran form was subsequently 
described by B. T. Lowe as Melissa rotundifolia in the Trans¬ 
actions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vi. 536 (1838), 
which appears not to have been seen by Briquet, and the description 
was reprinted in 1851 in Lowe’s Novitice Florce Maderensis, p. 536. 
The name M. rotundifolia is attributed by Lowe to Sol. MSS.; a 
brief diagnosis by Solander exists in the Banksian interleaved copy of 
Willd. Sp. PI. p. 3027, and the type-specimen named by him, from the 
Banksian herbarium, is in Herb. Mus. Brit. The British Museum 
collection also contains a fair series of Lowe’s specimens, which, 
although varying, agree generally with his description and those of 
Solander and Briquet. For the most part they bear some resemblance 
to Briquet’s var. silvatica, and thus explain the position of his 
ft calaminthoides. But I do not think they 5 " are identical with the 
Spanish C. bcetica, which Briquet united with them, because they 
usually lack the characteristic triangular, truncate-based leaves and 
show much longer-pedunculed and fewer-flowered cymes. C. bcetica 
should, I believe, be separated and placed nearer the Algerian C. hetero- 
tricha Boiss. & Beut. and C. Nepeta. 
The description &c. of C. bcetica is as follows:— 
Calamintha bjetica Boiss. & Beut. Pugill. PI. Nov. 92 (1852) ; 
Willkomm & La ge, FI. Hisp. ii. 413 (1870) ; C. officinalis ft villosa 
Boiss. Yoy. Bot. Esp. 497 (1839-45) ex spec. auth. ; C. officinalis 
jo villosissima Bentham in I)C. Prodr. xii. 228 (1848), ex parte ; 
C. menthcefolia var. bcetica Ball, Spic. FI. Marocc. in Journ. Linn. 
Soc. xvi. 613 (1878) ; Satureia Calamintha subsp. silvatica ft cala¬ 
minthoides Briquet, Labiees Alp.-Marit. iii. 434 (1895), ex parte; 
Coutinho, FI. Portugal, 517 (1913). 
Fccsicc. Porta & Bigo, It. iv. Hisp. 1895, Yunquera, Malacitana! 
Beverclron, Pl. d’Andalousie, 1889, no. 251, Bonda ! B. P. Murray, 
Oporto, 1887, in Hb. Kew ! Wolley-Hod, FI. Calpensis, no. 8, as 
C. officinalis v. bcetica ! Bourgeau, PI. d’Espagne. 1853, no. 1986, 
Algarve, as C. officinalis\ Willkomm. It. Hisp. no. 696, Sierra 
Nevada, as M. Calamintha v. villosa ! 
Bootstock much branched, with numerous stems 30-70 cm. long, 
suberect from a decumbent and rooting base, often forming a large 
tuft. Stems villous with spreading hairs, leafy with short internodes 
and usually much branched. Leaves small, even on the main stems, 
rarely exceeding 2-2'5 cm. in. length and often equally broad, ovate- 
