Feedback request: Mentha arvensis x aquatica = M. x verticillata (K001026452)

[Roger Horton]

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Specimen #377276

Taxon:	Lamiaceae: Mentha arvensis x aquatica = M. x verticillata L. ("Whorled Mint") det. Rex Alan Henry Graham 20/2/1958 A most unusual, narrowly leaved form.
Filed in taxon folder:	Lamiaceae: Mentha arvensis x aquatica = M. x verticillata L. ("Whorled Mint")
Collection date:	8/9/1923
Locality:	Great Britain, VC33 East Gloucestershire, Gloucester, SO81 Cultivated Great Britain, VC17 Surrey, Kew, TQ17, 355 Sandycombe Road [the address of John Fraser]
ex herb:	Mr Albert Bruce Jackson
Institution:	Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Accession number:	K001026452
Image: © Kew
fruits/flowers:	mature flowers

Inferred details are marked.

Documented by xmhcman on 8^th August 2014.

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xmhcman wrote

The 'LIST OF OLD KEWITES WITH ADDRESSES' of 1921 gives the cultivation site here, 355 Sandycombe Road, as the address of John Fraser VMH FLS, reported to have left 'Kew' in May 1885. Is this the Mentha expert usually signed as 'J Fraser'?

[David Price]

This is an email I wrote in July 2012 which may have been overlooked -

There are three collectors on heho called J Fraser but an alarming number of choices in the drop down menu and a parallel muddle in the allocation of records.   The greatest source of documenters' error is the man they (with no knowledge of Latin) call "Johannis Fraser".

I think accuracy can be obtained by the following simplification -

1.   Reduce to three the number of drop down choices -
      James Fraser fl. 1903-1917     
Dr John ("Johannes") Fraser MD 1820-1909     
John Fraser fl. 1884-1933

2.   Transfer all present "John Fraser" records before 1910 to the new  Dr John ("Johannes") Fraser MD 1820-1909 category; and post 1909 to              the new John Fraser fl. 1884-1933 category.   I can check any specimens that may have ended up in the wrong category.

I attach a note explaining my reasoning process a little more fully.

J Fraser on heho

There are three J Frasers on heho -

James Fraser fl. 1903-1917

Plants at http://herbariaunited.org/specimensearch/?taxon=&taxonid=&collector=James+Fraser&colid=14818&role=prov&from=&to=&search=search&Country=gbie&VC=all&place=&placeid=&Inst=all&search=search#searchlist

I can't so far find any biographical dates or details save that he was a member of BSE and specialised in aliens and grasses. The following specimens look out of place

1885^ Mentha arvensis http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/232334/
1920* Polygala vulgaris http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/320647/
1920* Mentha hybrid http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/232862/
1930* Hypericum perforatum http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/325038/

and I think ^ and * should be allotted as to ^ to Dr John Fraser (1820 -1909) and * to John Fraser fl. 1884-1933.


Dr John Fraser 1820 -1909

of Glasgow and Wolverhampton, a good account of his life and career is at http://www.herb.hull.ac.uk/herbarium/fraser.htm
His plants are at http://herbariaunited.org/specimensearch/?taxon=&taxonid=&collector=Dr+Joannis+Fraser&colid=14892&role=prov&from=&to=&search=search&Country=gbie&VC=all&place=&placeid=&Inst=all&search=search#searchlist

His labels are headed "Ex herbario Johannis Fraser MD" which has led contributors to identify a collector named "Johannis Fraser" (properly 'Johannes', or better, 'John').


but there is another John Fraser -

John Fraser fl. 1884-1933 whose plants appear on http://herbariaunited.org/core/specimensearch.php?taxon=&taxonid=&collector=John%20Fraser&colid=&role=prov&from=&to=&search=search&Country=gbie&VC=all&place=&placeid=&Inst=all&sort=start&start=0&#searchlist
together with others collected by his namesake Dr John Fraser 1820-1909. So far I have found no biographical details (though I am sure I made one or more posts a few years ago) but he can be recognised by his small, round, neat, blue-inked handwriting and his diagnostic notes, usually on Mentha.