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M E N T H A arvensis.
Corn Mint.
DIDYNAMIA Gymnospermia.
Gen. Char. Cal. 5-cleft. Cor. nearly regular, 4-cleft;
its broadest segment notched. Stamina erect, distant.
Spec. Char. Flowers whorled. Leaves ovate. Stem
much branched. Calyx bell-shaped, clothed all
over with horizontal hairs.
Syn, Mentha arvensis. Linn. Sp. PI. 806. Sm. Tr.
o f L. Soc. v. 5. 213. FI. Brit. 623. Huds.253.
With. 524. H u lle d . 2. 113. Relh. 228. Sihth.
182. Abbot. 127- Sole Menth. 29. t. 12.
M. seu calamintha aquatica. Rail Syn. 232.
.FREOUENT in corn-fields where water stagnates in winter,
especially on a sandy or gravelly .soil, flowering from July to
September.
Root perennial, creeping by means of turgid fleshy shoots,
very difficult to eradicate. Stem mostly diffuse. Leaves ovate
inclining to elliptical, obtuse, clothed with rather rigid prominent
hairs. Flower-stalks generally smooth, sometimes
furnished with a few spreading or slightly deflexed hairs.
Calyx shorter and more bell-shaped than in the other British
species, and essentially characterized by being clothed all
over with horizontally-spreading hairs. Flowers reddish-lilac.
The scent of this species is justly compared to the flavour of
cheese covered with blue mould, by which all the varieties
mentioned in FI. Brit, are also distinguished. Of these
Mr. Sole’s M. prcecox has more smooth and neatly elliptical
leaves than the rest, but we cannot find sufficient reasons to
make it a distinct species. Of his agrestis we shall speak in
the next page. m.