' S *f [ 449 ]
M E N T H A gentilis.
Red Mint.
D ID T N A M IA Gymnojfermia.
Gen. Char. Cor. nearly regular, four-cleft; Its
broadeft fegment notched. Stamina eretft, diftant.
Spec. Char. Flowers whorled. Leaves ovato-lance-
olate, acute, nearly feffile, fcarcely hairy. Flower-
ftalks perfectly fmooth. Teeth of the calyx hairy.
S yn. Mentha gentilis. Linn. Sp. PL 805. With. 524.
M. rubra. Hudf. 252.
M. fufca five vulgaris. Raii Syn. 232.
F 'O U N D by Mr. B. M. Forfter near Walthamftow, and by
Mr. Crowe and Dr. Smith in September 1797, on a fmall common
at Saham, Norfolk.
Root creeping. Stems feveral, ere£t, growing in tufts, about
18 inches high, with harth fomewhat hairy angles, more or
lefs reddith in the upper part, branched, leafy. Leaves molt
crowded towards the upper part, nearly feffile, lanceolate inclining
to ovate, acute, fharply ferrated, veiny, punctured
with fhining dots, and fprinkled (efpecially about the margin,
and the nerves on the back) with a few fliort hairs. Their
ufual fcent is much like that of the M. viridis, or garden mackerel
mint; but nothing is more variable than the fmell of mints.
We have from Mr. Sole what feems a variety of this, with the
delightful fcent of bafil, to which probably C. Bauhin’s fynonym
belongs. Bra&ese lanceolate, ciliated. Flower-ftalks round,
red, and always perfectly fmooth, as is the lower part of the
calyx, the upper part only, on or about the teeth, being fringed
or clothed with hairs which point upwards. The pellucid globules
on the calyx are very confpicuous. Stamina (horter than
the corolla; Style much longer; Germen, as Dr. Withering has
well remarked, Handing on a flefliy receptacle.
We believe the fynonyms above quoted are unqueftionable.
There is a mint which agrees with this in the calyx and flower-
ftalk, but grows much taller, with large ovate leaves. This
many have taken for the true M gentilis, but Dillenius feems
to have confounded it with the fativa, by his defcription of the
latter in Ray’s Synopfis. We know the plant, and fhall carefully
inveftigate i t ; but in the mean time we venture to efta-
blifh this now before us as the gentilis.