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Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MIC-MOL |
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MINT , botanically Mentha, a genus of labiate plants, comprising about twenty 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 World. The species have square stems, opposite, aromatic leaves, and a stoloniferous creeping rootstock. The flowers
separate
pale
nearly equal lobes, and encloses two long and two short stamens. Nearly three hundred intermediate forms have been named and described. Many of these varieties are permanent, in con-sequence of being propagated by stolons. In 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 flower-spikes. It is probably a cultivated race of the next species, Mentha sylvestris, or horsemint, which chiefly differs from the above in its coarser 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 East
damp
flowers
damp
stem
pennyroyal
oval
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 Chinese and Japanese varieties of M. arvensis. Other forms of the last-named species growing in Ceylon and Java have the flavour of the common garden mint, M. viridis, and the odour is found in M. sylvestris, M. rotundifolia and M. canadensis. A bergamot scent is met with in a variety of M. aquatica and in forms of other species. Most mints blossom in August.The name mint is also applied to plants of other genera, Monarda punctata being called horsemint, Pycnanthemum linifolium mountain mint, and Nepeta cataria catmint. End of Article: MINT If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
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