The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

RECORD: Darwin, C. R. n.d. Abstract of Smith, Observations on the British species of Mentha. CUL-DAR205.10.51. Edited by John van Wyhe (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/)

REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe 5.2023. RN1

NOTE: See record in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue, enter its Identifier here. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin. The volume CUL-DAR205.10 contains notes on variation and varieties. Reproduced with permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library and William Huxley Darwin.

James Edward Smith. 1800. Observations on the British species of Mentha. Transactions of the Linnean Society 5: 171-217.

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P. 201 he says it is impossible to mark every fleeting variation in the Mentha Sativa all the species appear ~~must in~~ to vary much in a wild state & in the gardens

P. 210. in the M. gentilis growing in a gravelly garden, some few out of a thousand specimens, more downy in every part, & in these even the Calyx & flower stalks were hairy — but this is a very rare alteration in Mints, nor do I know another instance.—

P. 215 in the wild state I see the species vary in length of stamina, time of flowering, &c (This genus offers striking instance of the difficulty of knowing what species are.—)

Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)