Copy 2, Volume 3

The English flora / By Sir James Edward Smith.

  • James Edward Smith
Date:
1824-1836
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The English flora / By Sir James Edward Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    92/526 (page 82)
    a dark purplish hue. Fl. of a light blueish purple, numerous and crowded ; in a, 8 and y capitate, with one or more pair of stalked axillary whorls below the head ; in ¢ the head becomes a spike, with several whorls, more or less remote ; in ¢ the whole spike is whorled, and somewhat leafy; in the rest al! the flowers are whorled and axillary. Bracteas lanceolate, hairy. Flower- stalks densely covered, for the most part, but especially at the summit, with recurved, sometimes close-pressed, white hairs. Cal. tubular, furrowed, mostly purplish, besprinkled with resi- nous dots, and clothed with hairs, various in length, all con- stantly curved in a contrary direction from those of the stalks. Cor. hairy externally. Stam. various in length. The lower whorls are usually stalked. Botanists have been very unwilling to believe the curious change of a capitate Mint to a whorled one ;_ but this alteration may often be traced in the same ditch. Some copy me for this fact, without adverting to its author or seeming conscious of its hav- ing ever been disputed. 1 have received dried as well as living specimens,. from the late Mr. Sole, of all his varieties, of this and other species, and have cultivated them in a dry garden, as well as in a very wet one. I have observed all the difficult ones, year after year, in their wild situations, and have no doubt that all these varieties of M. hirsuta especially, constitute but one species. Occasional examinations, during the course of 25 years, have not only confirmed this opinion, but have also ascer- tained the truth of the essential characters derived from the pu- bescence of the calyx and flower-stalks, as being decisive with- out any exception. I regret that my friend Mr. Sole took great offence at my not following all his names and errors; but'] hope I have never corrected them unhandsomely, nor do I mean to undervalue his book, which is a valuable record of the several varieties of this difficult genus, though no guide at all as to the limits or names of the species. Professor Hooker, in the most flattering terms, confirms my account of this Mint; but the hairs on the flower-stalks, in his otherwise excellent plate, are not enough deflexed. , 7. M. acutefolia. Fragrant Sharp-leaved Mint. Flowers whorled. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, tapering at each end. Calyx hairy all over. Hairs of the flower- stalks spreading. Bot. v. 34, ¢. 2415. Hull 173. M, verticillata. Mill. Dict. ed. 8.n.17. From his own herbarium. M. verticillata aromatica, folio longiore et acutiore. Rand Ms. M. aquatica verticillata, odoris grati. Herb, Buddle. About the banks of rivers, rare.