'tî> [ 2120 J
M E N T H A agrestis.
Rugged Field Mint.
D 1 D Y N A M I A G y m n o s p e r m i a .
Gen. Char. Cal. 5-cleft. Cor. nearly regular, 4-cleft ;
its broadest segment notched. Stamina erect, distant.
S pec. C har. Flowers whorled. Leaves somewhat heart-
shaped, strongly serrated, rugose. Stem erect.
Calyx bell-shaped, clothed all over with horizontal
hairs.
Syn. Mentha agrestis. Sole Menth. 33. t. 14.
M. arvensis £. Sm. FI. Brit. 624. T r . o f L . Soc.
v. 5. 213, 216.
O b s e r v e d by the late Mr. Sole in corn-fields and neglected
gardens in Somersetshire. Some plants for which I am indebted
to his kindness having now for eleven years entirely
preserved their original appearance and characters, I think it
right to make this Mint known, which Mr. Borrer says is
very common in Sussex. How far the erect stem, and
roundish-heartshaped, rugged, strongly serrated leaves, may
be thought a sufficient specific distinction from arvensis, with
which it agrees in more essential points, I greatly doubt, but
I leave to the judgment of others. Their permanency in a
dry garden, under various treatment, is in their favour ; for
the varieties of M. hirsuta, and of the spiked mints, have,
under my observation, frequently changed according to seasons
and situations. The characters deduced fiom the calyx
and its hairs, however, prove certain ; but it does not always
follow that two Menthce agreeing in those, must otherwise
be one species, though I have scarcely found an exception, if
the present be not one. If this clue to a true knowledge of
these difficult plants obliged me to dissent from my intelligent
and experienced correspondent, as well as from many of the
first botanists, it was not without due respect to their merits.
Mr. Sole and Mr. Pitcliford were preeminent in the knowledge
of the various mints; we merely differed as to some of
them being species or varieties, and my peculiar advantages
only enabled me to correct their nomenclature.