MENTHA

Mentha L., Sp. Pl. 576. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5: 250. 1754; Benth. in DC., Prodr. 12: 166. 1848; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 4: 647. 1885; Briquet, Fragment. Monogr. Bot. in Bull. Soc. Bot. Geneve 5: 20-107. 1889; Briquet in Engl. & Prantl. Nat. Pflanzenfam. ed. 1,4, 3 A: 3171. 1896; Mukherjee, Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. 14, 1: 85. 1940; Wealth of India, Raw Materials 6: 337. 1962; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 17: 236; Hedge, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 255.

Annual or perennial aromatic herb. Stem erect or ascending from a creeping rhizome or stolons, branched, glabrous or hairy. Leaves opposite, sessile or subsessile, leaf margin crenate, dentate or serrate, villous to glabrous, gland-dotted abaxially. Flowers borne in 2-6 to many-flowered verticillasters, either in axils of upper leaves or in continuous or interrupted spikes of verticillasters subtended by bracts, bracts lanceolate to linear, +/- free. Flowers bisexual or pistillate, slightly zygomorphic, hypogynous. Calyx funnelform or campanulate, 10-13-veined, throat glabrous or hairy; limb equally or subequally 5-toothed or 2-lipped: upper lip 3-toothed, lower lip 2-toothed. Corolla funnelform, weakly 2-lipped, small, lobes 4, subequal, uppermost slightly larger, emarginate or 2-lobulate; tube included within calyx. Stamens 4, subequal, exserted in bisexual flowers, included and often rudimentary in pistillate flowers, posterior 2 slightly longer than anterior 2, filaments glabrous; anthers bithecous, thecae parallel. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary 4-lobed, lobes 1-locular with one ovule per loculus; style exserted, gynobasic; stigma +/- equally 2-cleft. Nutlets 4, small, ovoid or globose, apex rounded, smooth, tuberculate or reticulate, rarely hairy, mucilaginous on wetting or not.

24 species

Mentha spicata subsp. spicata

Mentha spicata subsp. spicata (Original publication details unknown); M. crispa L., Sp. Pl. 576. 1753; M. pudina Buch.-Ham. ex Benth. in Wall., Pl. As. Rat. 1: 29. 1830; M. spicata var. viridis L., Sp. Pl. 576. 1753; M. viridis (L.) L., Sp. Pl. ed. 2.2: 804. 1763.

Perennial aromatic herbs, stoloniferous. Stems erect, up to 50 cm long, quadrangular, often green, usually glabrous or sparsely pubescent with simple, eglandular, spreading or retrose hairs. Leaves opposite; shortly petiolate, petiole 4-7 mm long, sparsely pubescent; leaf blade 3-6 cm x 1-2 cm, ovate-oblong, oblong-lanceolate, base broadly cuneate to rounded, occasionally subequal, apex mostly acute, rarely obtuse, margin irregularly serrate, adaxially glabrous, abaxially gland-dotted and sparsely pubescent especially on veins. Many-flowered verticillasters in cylindric terminal or axillary spikes, 4-10 cm long, spikes interrupted at base; bracts 5-8 mm long, linear or roughly leaf-like, green; pedicels 1-1.5 mm long. Flowers bisexual, slightly zygomorphic, hypogynous, white. Calyx campanulate, ca. 2 mm long, 10-nerved, gland-dotted; tube 1-1.5 mm long; lobes 0.25-0.5 mm long, teeth narrow, triangular with acute or acuminate apex, green, glabrous. Corolla whitish, funnelform, ca. 4 mm long, glabrous; tube ca. 2 mm long, broad, slightly exserted; limb 4-lobed, lobes subequal, uppermost lobe slightly broader with emarginate apex. Stamens 4, subequal, erect, exserted, filaments glabrous; anthers bithecous, thecae parallel. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary 0.4-0.5 mm long, glabrous; style ca. 6 mm long, exserted, gynobasic; stigma equally bifid. Nutlets not observed.

Flowering and Fruiting: Almost throughout the year
Common Names: Spearmint, Garden Mint, Lamb Mint; Pudina (Hindi)