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Linn Trans:

Vol. 5 p 176 Sir J. Smith on Mentha says species have all original smells but these are apt to vary much according to situation. Shape of leaves & hairiness & length of stamina very variable, as they have creeping roots seeds are rarely perfected. The stamina even abort & are shorter than the corolla — doubts whether the inflouscence which generally serves for a character does in the genes –remarks how difficult it is to fins good characters between genera in very natural orders –but not nearly so often difficult between the species of natural genera — Thus the hairyness of the stamina in Orobanche, the ribs of the calyx in Arcnaria &c &c he believes that the pubescens of the calyx serves for such character in Mentha not that the hairyness never varies but much less than the hairiness of other parts.

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James Edward Smith Smith. 1799. Observations on the British species of Mentha. Transactions of the Linnean Society of London 5: 171-217.