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MINT
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MINT , botanically Mentha, a genus of labiate See also:plants, comprising about twenty See also:species of perennial herbs, widely distributed throughout the temperate and sub-tropical portions of the globe, but chiefly in the temperate regions of the Old See also:World. The species have square stems, opposite, aromatic leaves, and a stoloniferous creeping rootstock. The See also:flowers are arranged in axillary clusters (cymes), which either See also:form See also:separate whorls or are crowded together into a terminal spike. The corolla is usually small and of a See also:pale See also:purple or pinkish See also:colour; it has four557 nearly equal lobes, and encloses two See also:long and two See also:short stamens. Nearly three See also:hundred intermediate forms have been named and described. Many of these varieties are permanent, in See also:con-sequence of being propagated by stolons. In See also:Britain ten species are indigenous or naturalized. Mentha viridis, or spearmint, grows in marshy meadows, and is the species commonly used for culinary purposes; it is distinguished by its smooth, sessile leaves and lax tapering See also:flower-spikes. It is probably a cultivated See also:race of the next species, Mentha sylvestris, or horsemint, which chiefly differs from the above in its coarser See also:habit and hairy leaves, which are silky beneath, and in its denser flower-spikes. This plant is supposed to be the mint of Scripture, as it is extensively cultivated in the See also:East; it was one of the See also:bitter herbs with which the See also:paschal See also:lamb was eaten. M. rotundifolia resembles the last in See also:size and habit, but is distinguished by its rounded wrinkled leaves, which are shaggy beneath, and by its lanceolate bracts. The last two species usually grow on See also:damp See also:waste ground. M. aquatica grows in ditches, and is easily recognized by its rounded flower-spikes and stalked hairy leaves. M. piperita, or See also:peppermint (q.v.), has stalked smooth leaves and an oblong obtuse terminal spike of flowers; it is cultivated for its volatile oil. M. pratensis belongs to a See also:group which have the flowers arranged in axillary whorls and never in terminal spikes; it otherwise bears some resemblance to M. viridis. M. sativa grows by damp roadsides, and M. arvensis in cornfields; they are distinguished from M. pratensis by their hairy stalked leaves, which in M. arvensis are all equally large, but in M. sativa are much smaller towards the See also:apex of the See also:stem. M. Pulegium, commonly known as See also:pennyroyal, more rarely as fleamint, has small See also:oval obtuse leaves and flowers in axillary whorls, and is remarkable for its creeping habit and See also:peculiar odour. It differs from all the mints above described in the See also:throat of the calyx being closed with hairs. It is met with in damp places on grassy See also:commons, and was formerly popular for medicinal purposes. All the genus Mentha abound in a volatile oil, contained in resinous dots in the leaves and stems. The odour of the oil is similar in several species, but is not distinctive, the same odour occurring in varieties of distinct species. Thus the peppermint flavour is found in M. piperita, in M. incana, and in See also:Chinese and See also:Japanese varieties of M. arvensis. Other forms of the last-named species growing in See also:Ceylon and See also:Java have the flavour of the See also:common See also:garden mint, M. viridis, and the odour is found in M. sylvestris, M. rotundifolia and M. canadensis. A See also:bergamot See also:scent is met with in a variety of M. aquatica and in forms of other species. Most mints blossom in See also:August. The name mint is also applied to plants of other genera, Monarda punctata being called horsemint, Pycnanthemum linifolium See also:mountain mint, and Nepeta cataria catmint. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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