''Mentha'' (also known as mint, from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

Linear B Linear B was a syllabic script used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest attested form of Greek. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries. The oldest Mycenaean writing dates to about 1400 BC. It is descended from ...

''mi-ta'') is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of plants in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory ...

(mint family). The exact distinction between species is unclear; it is estimated that 13 to 24

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

exist.

Hybridization Hybridization (or hybridisation) may refer to: *Hybridization (biology), the process of combining different varieties of organisms to create a hybrid *Orbital hybridization, in chemistry, the mixing of atomic orbitals into new hybrid orbitals *Nu ...

occurs naturally where some species' ranges overlap. Many hybrids and

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

s are known. The genus has a subcosmopolitan distribution across Europe, Africa - (Southern Africa), Asia, Australia - Oceania, North America and South America. Its species can be found in many environments, but most grow best in wet environments and moist soils.

Description

Mints are aromatic, almost exclusively

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

herbs In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

. They have wide-spreading underground and overground

stolon In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...

s and erect, square, branched stems. Mints will grow 10–120 cm (4–48 inches) tall and can spread over an indeterminate area. Due to their tendency to spread unchecked, some mints are considered

invasive Invasive may refer to: *Invasive (medical) procedure *Invasive species *Invasive observation, especially in reference to surveillance *Invasively progressive spread of disease from one organ in the body to another, especially in reference to cancer ...

. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are arranged in opposite pairs, from

oblong An oblong is a non-square rectangle. Oblong may also refer to: Places * Oblong, Illinois, a village in the United States * Oblong Township, Crawford County, Illinois, United States * A strip of land on the New York-Connecticut border in the Unit ...

to lanceolate, often downy, and with a

serrate Serration is a saw-like appearance or a row of sharp or tooth-like projections. A serrated cutting edge has many small points of contact with the material being cut. By having less contact area than a smooth blade or other edge, the applied pr ...

d margin. Leaf colors range from dark green and gray-green to purple, blue, and sometimes pale yellow. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are produced in long bracts from leaf axils. They are white to purple and produced in false whorls called verticillasters. The corolla is two-lipped with four

subequal {{Short pages monitor, sd, ڦُودنو, bn, পুদিনা borrowed from Persian language, Persian ''pudna'' or ''puna'' meaning "Mentha pulegium, pennyroyal". The taxonomic family Lamiaceae is known as the mint family. It includes many other aromatic herbs, including most of the more common cooking herbs, such as basil, rosemary, Common sage, sage, oregano, and catnip. As an English colloquial term, any small mint-flavored confectionery item can be called a mint. In common usage, other plants with fragrant leaves may be called "mint", although they are not in the mint family: * Vietnamese Coriander, Vietnamese mint, commonly used in Southeast Asian cuisine is ''Persicaria odorata'' in the family

Polygonaceae The Polygonaceae are a family of flowering plants known informally as the knotweed family or smartweed—buckwheat family in the United States. The name is based on the genus ''Polygonum'', and was first used by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 ...

, collectively known as smartweeds or pinkweeds. * Mexican mint marigold is ''

Tagetes lucida ''Tagetes lucida'' is a perennial plant native to Mexico and Central America. It is used as a medicinal plant and as a culinary herb. The leaves have a tarragon-like scent, with hints of anise, and it has entered the nursery trade in North ...

'' in the sunflower family (

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

Fossil record

†''Mentha pliocenica'' fossil seeds have been excavated in Pliocene deposits of Dvorets on the right bank of the Dnieper river between the cities of Rechitsa and Loyew, in south-eastern Belarus. The fossil seeds are similar to the seeds of ''

Mentha aquatica ''Mentha aquatica'' (water mint; syn. ''Mentha hirsuta'' Huds.Euro+Med Plantbase Project''Mentha aquatica'') is a perennial flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It grows in moist places and is native to much of Europe, northwest Africa ...

'' and ''Mentha arvensis''.

References

External links

Flora Europaea: ''Mentha''

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Preview of ''Mint: The Genus Mentha''
{{Authority control Herbs Indian spices Lamiaceae genera Medicinal plants Mentha, Stoloniferous plants Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus