D1DYNAMIA Gymnofpermia.
G en. C har. Cal. five-cleft. Cor. nearly regular, four-
cleft ; its broadeft fegment notched, Stamina
eretä, diftant.
Spe c . C har. Spikes blunt, interrupted below. Leaves
on foot-ftalks, fomewhat ovate, finoothifii. Calyx
very fmooth at the bate.
Syn. Mentha piperita. Sm. FI. Brit. 613. Tr. of
Linn. Soc. v. 5. 189. Hudf. 251. With. 523, var. 2.
Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 169.
M. piperita officinalis. Sole Menth. 15. t. 7.
ß. M. fpicis brevioribus et habitioribus, foliis Menthae
fufcse, fapore fervido Piperis. Raii Syn. 234. t. 10.
ĥ 2-
M. piperita vulgaris. Sole Menth. 19. t. 8.
y. M. piperita fylveftris. Sole Menth. 53. t. 24.
1 HIS, the true garden Pepper Mint, is now and then met
with on the fhores of brooks indubitably wild, as at Bonfall
dale near Matlock, though more frequently the outcaft of gardens.
Dr. Eales, its original difcoverer, found it in Hertford-
fhire in Ray’s time, and on his recommendation it appears to
have come into general ufe as a cordial and ftomachick. Mr.
Relhan fent it from Hanxton, Cambridgefhire, flowering in
September. It is quite different from the M. piperita of Linnaeus
and other northern botanifts, except in flavour; that
being merely a variety of birfuta, I retain the name of piperita
for our old original fpecies.
The ftem is upright, branched, a little hairy with recurved
hairs, often purplilh. Leaves all on foot-ftalks, dark-green,
ovate, fharpifh, ferrated, fmoothifh above, more or lefs hairy
beneath, never downy nor fhaggy. Spike terminal, bluntifh,
interrupted, the loweft whorl remote, ftalked, now and then
fpiked. BraHeas lanceolate, fringed. Flower-ftalks either
quite fmooth, or a little hairy upwards. Calyx (lender, furrowed,
dotted, always quite fmooth at the bafe, the teeth dark-
purple and fringed. Corolla purplifh. Stamina fhorter than
the fegments.
Variety |3 has merely fhorter rounder fpikes and leaves, and
is more commonly found wild; 7 has heart-fhaped fmoother
leaves, and a lefs grateful flavour.