MENTHA HIRSUTA. HAIRY MINT.
MENTHA hirsuia; floribus capitatis verticillatisve, foliis petiolatis ovatis, calyce undique hirsute, pedicellis re-
trorsum hispidis. Sm.
MENTHA hirsuta. Smith Fl. B rit. p. 616. Idem in Rees's Cycl. Hoffm. Germ. ed. 2 . ml. 1 . P . II. p. 5.
Ait. Hort. Kew. ed. 2. ml. 3. p. 388. Hook. Fl. Scot. F . I. p. 180.
u. Capitulis brevibus sphcericis terminalibus. Sm. in Rees’s Cycl.
M. hirsuta. Linn. Mant. t. 81. Smith in Linn. Trans, ml. 5. p. 193. Huds. Angl. ed. 1. p. 223. Light/.
Scot. p. 1104. Engl. Bot. t. 447. Sole Menth, t. 10, 11. Decand. Fl. Fr. ed. 3. ml. 3. p. 535.
Fl. Gail. Syn. p. 222. Willd. Sp. F l. ml. 3. p. 78.
M. aquatica. Huds. Angl. ed. 2. p. 252. «. & ß . L ig h tf Scot. p. 305. Pers. Syn. PI. ml. 2. p. 119-
Willd. Sp. PI. ml. 3. p. 78.
M. piperita. Linn. Sp. P I. p. 805.
ORIGANUM vulgare*. Fl. Dan. t. 638.
MENTHA aquatica sive Sisymbrium. Raii Syn. p. 233.
M. Sisymbrium dicta hirsuta, glomerulis ac foliis minoribus aa-rotundioribus. Dill, in Raii Syn. p. 2 3 3 .1 .10. 1.
ß . Capitulo elongato terminali, vel spica obtusa. Sm. in Rees’s Cycl.
M. hirsuta. $. & e. Smith Fl. Brit. p. 617.
M. palustris. Sole Menth, t. 6.
M. paludosa. Sole Menth, t. 22.
MENTHIASTRI aquatici genus hirsutum, spica lateris. Raii Syn. p. 234.
y. Floribus verticillatis. Sm. in Rees’s Cycl.
M. hirsuta. f .—3. Sm. Fl. B rit. p . 6 17. " _ ,
M. sativa. Linn. Sp. PI. p. 805. (excl. syn.) Smith in L im . Tram. ml. 5, p . 199. Engl. Bot. t. 448. Decani.
Ft. Fr. ei. 3. vol. 3. p. 535. Fl. Gail. Syn. p. 222.
M. rivalis, ß. y. $. Sole Menth, p. 45.
Class a n d O r d e r . D IDYNAMIA GYMNOSPERMIA.
[N a tu r a l O r d e r . LABIATiE, Juss., Decand., Brown, Hook.]
G e n . C h a r . Corolla subeequalis, quadrifida; lacinia latioreemarginata. Calyx quinquefidus. Stamina erecta, di-
stantia. Sm,
G e n . Ci ia r . Corolla nearly regular, four-lobed; its broadest lobe notched. Calyx five-cleft. Stamens erect, distant.
R a d ix perennis, longissime repens, fibris intertextis donata,
stolonifera. v
Ca ules erecti, pedales et ultra, pubescetites, tetragoni, ar-
« ticulati, sæpe purpurei, versus apicem ramosi, ramis
oppositis, hirsuti, pilis deflexis.
Folia opposita, ovata, acuta, breviter petiolata, profunde
serrata, venosa, undulata, subrugosa, subtus præcipue
pubescentia, petiolis pilis deflexis.
F lores pallide purpurei, plerumque capitati, capitulis glo-
bosis, nunc verticillati, rarius oblongo-spicati, spicis
vel capitulis bracteis duabus foliaceis suffultis.
Ca l y x subcylindraceus, æqualiter quinquedentatus, decem-
striatus, pilosus, pilis patentibus. Pedicelli breves,
pilis deflexis obsiti.
Corolla subinfundibuliformis, extus pubescens, quadrifida;
laciniis tribus inferioribus ovatis, acutis, superiors la-
v tiore, bifida.
St am in a quatuor, subæqualia, exserta, purpurea. _
P istillum : Germen quadrilobum, basi glandula annuläri
, cinctum. Stylus tubo cörollae longior. 'Stigma bi-
ÿ fidum. .
P e r ic a r p ium apheniis quatuor ovato-triquetris.
Sem e n ovatum, pendulum. Podospermum longum, erectum,
basi receptaçulo affixum.
Root perennial, creeping to a considerable distance, stolo-
nifer'ous, beset with thickly interwoven fibres.
Stems erect, a foot and more in height, downy, square,
. , jointed, often reddish, branched towards the summit,
the branches opposite, green, hairy, the hairs deflexed.
Leaves opposite, ovate, acute, upon very short footstalks,
deeply serrated, veined j wavy, slightly rough, downy,
principally beneath, the hairs on the footstalks deflexed.
Flowers pale purplish, generally growing in heads, the
/h ead s globose, sometimes whorled, very rarely in ob-
' long spikes, the spikes or heads supported by two
leafy bracteas.
Ca ly x subcylindrical, divided into five equal teeth, marked
with ten striee, hairy, the hairs spreading. Pedicels
short, covered with deflexed hairs.
Corolla somewhat infundibuliform, externally downy, four-
cleft, the three lower divisions ovate, acute; the upper
one broader, bifid.
Stam en s four, nearly equal, exserled, purple.
j P is t il : Germen four-lobed, surrounded at the base with an
annular gland. Style longer than the tube o f the corolla.
Stigma bifid. ^
P e r ic a r p composed o f four ovato-triquetrous achenia.
Se e d ovate, pendent. Seedstalk long, erect, fixed by its
base to the receptacle.
Fig. 1. Single flower. 2. Calyx with its fruit. Fig. 3. Seed-vessel. Fig. 4. Seed-vessel cut open to show the seed,
with its elongated erect stalk.—A ll more or less magnified.
In , e
adopting the above synonyms and varieties of this plant, I have been almost wholly gilded by the learned President
of the Linnaean S a n Society,society, who wno p in the uie om 5th volume vuiuiue ui of ua its Transactions,xia.ioav.uv««, in ... his •.*- BESS Flora S Britanmca,3 ......... f * . English BjHffBBPBSSB Botany, _ and u;fforonV
above
all in Rees’s Cyclopaedia, has laboured most successfully in reductng to something like satisfactory ^ aracteis the ,
species of Mint, of which previously comparatively nothing was known. Sir James E. Smith s remarks upon this vanab e
individual are so excellent, and founded upon so long and patient an investigation of specimens cultivated in d ffeient soils
and situations, that, unable to offer any thing equally valuable from my own observations, I shall make no hesitation of copying
them, “ The Mentha hirsuta is the most inconstant p lan tin the genus. I t is often puiphsh, always m o i |D |§ § B
hairy, and in general remarkably so; the hairs of the stem, branches and flower-stalks eing a curve ' f ..
the footstalks, leaves, and especially those which clothe the calyx, being ail turned fqnward or upwar . i ,
pubescence never changes, though its quantity is extremely variable. We have a wild specimen which to the naked eye
looks nearly as smooth as the Mentha odorata, but which is, in fact, minutely hairy, especially the calyx and stales. The
root that bore this, being transplanted into a neighbouring garden, produced the following year a plant as hairy as any variety
we have seen. The smell of the present individual is likewise changeable. In general it is pungent and aromatic,
much like Spear Mint, but sometimes acquires the flavour of Pepper Mint or of Camphor, and jM j t f i T O P U g B W i
odour, like Frankincense Thyme, very lasting in specimens 70 years old, and which is now and then found > " ^ “sua 'y ,
fetid M . aroemis. The stems are upright, mostly branched, in the manner of M . odorata. Leaves stalked H U B
acute but sometimes blunt, serrated, very variable in size; their veins strong and parallel. Flowers p p » , ,
variety a, capitate, like those of odorata, with one or two dense, distant, stalked, axillary whorls be ow, m p , ...
terminate the. stem or branches as to form abluntish spike, still accompanied by a distant whorl, or rather a pair of axillary
heads, underneath; this has been made a species by most authors,.but it has all the essential charafcters of “ > 'al°. *?
have observed it to change, even in a wild state, according to alterations in the moisture of the>soil, t is ’ ‘ P .
of Sole, t. 6.;—his M . paludosa, t. 22, has the whorls sessile and more numerous, so as more nearly to resemb e a properly
whorled Mint, which plants of this kind, from Mr. Sole, have completely become in our garden ; in y, which like « vanes
in size, hairiness, colour and flavour, the inflorescence is entirely whorled throughout. I t is not without repeated observations
on these plants in their wild state, and long cultivation of them in two different gardens, one wet,
we have been decided in considering their different forms of inflorescence; in the M. hirsuta, as constituting no specinc distinction.
We have indeed specimens, which show the change from a to y. This is a point, nevert e ess, w ie 1 botanists find it difficult to allow, and which nothing but great experience can establish. , ,
Mentha hirsuta is by far the most common of all our native species of Mint, abounding in wet mea -, > y
road-sides, increasing prodigiously by its long creeping roots, and flowering late in the autumn.
From this plant, Mentha piperita, the true Pepper Mint, differs in having its leaves nearly smooth, and the lower parts
of its calyx and flower-stalks remarkably glabrous and polished, also in the spikes being obtuse and interrupted. Smith says
that the M . piperita is found truly wild only in Britain. . , , , , . ■ , •
The Pepper Mint of Sweden, the same author informs us, is extracted from a variety of the Mentha tin suta, which pos-
1 Besses the flavour of the real Pepper Mint.
probably have been givi t Origanu vulgare.