D I D T N A M I A Gymnojpermia.
n6arly regular’ four-d e ft; its
broadeft fegment notched. Stamina eredt, diftant.
Spec. Char. Flowers whorled. Stem eredt. Leaves
on winged foot-ftalks, ovate, ferrated, pubefcent.
t lower-ftalks and calyx hairy.
S y n . Mentha fativa. Linn. Sp. PI. 805. Hudf. 2 <2.
M, verticillata. Rail Syn. 232. Linn. Syjt. Nat.
ed. 10. 1099. Hudf. ed. i. 222.
p ----:— ----
t w t J HTERIrDTby ^ r- Edward Forfter jun. on the banks of
the river Lea m Low Leyton marfh, not far from Lea bridge,
the very fpot evidently intended by Dillenius in Ray’s Synop-
eriftt n61r the Eerry-houfe,” which houfe | |
built M °U# a rhhar beCn nr° ferry fmce Lea bridSe was
of thV ? r °rrfter^ er,ef° re Prefumes 1 he the M. verticillata
or the^bynopfis. We have certainly determined it by the her-
barium of Linn^us to be his fativa, though the fynonyms in
£ £ t S SPe ° p S b e f be " ° ”S- 11 iS fo""d >”
fh o o tT if,66?/138’ 3nd thI »hoots, as well as one ereft° 7fqiunagr eo huati rlyo nItSe mcr, efeuprinnigt hheodr iazloln tthael
way up to the flowering part with oppofite fhortifh axillary leafy
branches. Leaves on winged foot-ftalks (the bafe of the leaf
runnmg down them) ovate, rather pointed, fharply ferrated
Irom near the bafe, veiny, clothed on both fides with Ihort
mattered hairs, and paler beneath. Flowers in axillary clufters
from many of the uppermoft leaves, forming whorls, and each
clufter is more or lefs pedunculated. General and partial
flower-ftalks thickly covered (efpecially the fummit of the latter
jult under the calyx) with white hairs pointing downwards like
thofe on the ftem, but the calyx itfelf is clothed all over with
hairs which point upwards, juft as in M. hirfuta; by which it
may be eafily known from every variety of M. gentilis, whofe
-flower-ftalks are always fmooth, and the calyx hairy about the
top oniy.^ 1 he ftamina m our fpecimens are {hotter than the
corolla ; in thofe of Linnseus, longer.
However ftrange it may feem, we have of late had reafon to
luipect that this plant is a mere verticillate variety of M. hirfuta.