''Clinopodium nepeta'' ( synonym ''Calamintha nepeta''), known as lesser calamint, is a perennial herb of the

mint family 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, ...

Description

Lesser calamint is a perennial shrub, forming a compact mound of shiny, green oregano-like leaves. The flowers are lavender pink. The plant reaches a height of 18 inches. The lesser calamint smells like a cross between mint and oregano. It attracts honeybees and butterflies. Lesser calamint usually grows in the summer, and well into the fall. It can become dormant in the winter months, then reblossom in spring. In fall, the flowers fall to the ground and will self-seed. Seedlings will flower in late August. Lesser calamint often grows wild, but can also be kept in pots. The average

life expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...

of a plant is 3–4 years. It is susceptible to

powdery mildew Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that affects a wide range of plants. Powdery mildew diseases are caused by many different species of ascomycete fungi in the order Erysiphales. Powdery mildew is one of the easier plant diseases to identify, a ...

Taxonomy

The species was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in 1753 as ''Melissa nepeta''. It was subsequently placed in ''

Calamintha ''Calamintha'' is a genus of plants that belongs to the family Lamiaceae. Commonly called the calamints, there are about eight species in the genus (around 30 before revisions in taxonomy) which is native to the northern temperate regions of E ...

'', ''

Thymus The thymus is a specialized primary lymphoid organ of the immune system. Within the thymus, thymus cell lymphocytes or ''T cells'' mature. T cells are critical to the adaptive immune system, where the body adapts to specific foreign invaders. ...

'', ''

Satureja ''Satureja'' is a genus of aromatic plants of the family Lamiaceae, related to rosemary and thyme. It is native to North Africa, southern and southeastern Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. A few New World species were formerly included ...

'' and ''

Clinopodium ''Clinopodium'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. It is in the tribe Mentheae of the subfamily Nepetoideae, but little else can be said with certainty about its phylogenetic position. The genus name ''Clinopodium'' is de ...

'', among other genera. The last of these is currently accepted by the

World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (usually abbreviated to WCSP) is an "international collaborative programme that provides the latest peer reviewed and published opinions on the accepted scientific names and synonyms of selected pla ...

Subspecies

Three subspecies are recognized: * ''Clinopodium nepeta'' subsp. ''nepeta'' – south central and southern Europe to northern Iran * ''Clinopodium nepeta'' subsp. ''spruneri'' – Mediterranean to the Caucasus * ''Clinopodium nepeta'' subsp. ''subisodontum'' – east central and south east Europe

Uses

Lesser calamint is commonly used as an herb in the

Cuisine of Corsica The cuisine of Corsica is the traditional cuisine of the island of Corsica. It is mainly based on the products of the island, and due to historical and geographical reasons, has much in common with Italian cuisine, and marginally with those ...

and

Italian cuisine Italian cuisine (, ) is a Mediterranean cuisine David 1988, Introduction, pp.101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula and later spread around the world together with wave ...

, where it is called ''nepita'', ''mentuccia'', ''nipitella'' or ''nepitella''. In southern Italy, it is used in the making of a goat cheese called ''cassiedu'', giving the cheese a minty taste. Some sources state that '' Nepeta nepetella'', not lesser calamint, is the nepitella used in cooking. It's used to aromatize boiled chestnuts along with other herbs in Galicia, Northwest Spain.

References

Herbs

nepeta ''Nepeta'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. The genus name is reportedly in reference to Nepete, an ancient Etruscan city.

Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Lamiaceae-stub