MENTHA sp.
FAMILY: LAMIACEAE
The mint family is large and growing. Its popularity is well deserved: mints are stimulant, carminative, antispasmodic, antiseptic, aromatic and anti-inflammatory… And many taste good. They are widely used in teas and as flavorings. Most are easily grown and like part shade or sun (if given generous amounts of water). The Latin nomenclature is vague on many of the species and varieties; any living thing that has been cultivated and inbred for 1000s of years is often difficult to categorize.
Mentha is a large group of plants named for Mintho, mistress of the Roman god of the underworld, Pluto. When Proserpine, his queen, discovered the affair, she transformed Mintho into a low-growing plant, destined to be walked upon forever. To make this terrible sentence more bearable, Pluto decreed that the more the plant was trampled, the sweeter it would smell.
I have a great personal fondness for mints, having been raised on mint tea by my Pennsylvania Dutch grandmother back in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (USA), a New World German colony.
Most mints are spreading, hardy perennials. I once thought it would be ‘neat’ to plant a raised bed of just mints. This was a bad idea, but I wouldn’t try to tell you how to live your lives. If you wish to preserve any individual varieties, however, do not let your mints go to seed: some may cross breed and not remain true to type.
- APPLEMINT: (M. suaveolens) Large, hairy light green leaves
and a mild apple scent. Popular culinary variety. - CORSICAN MINT: (M. requienii) This mint is smaller than most (actually, it’s minuscule) and more tender than most. Strong Crème dementhe aroma. Spreads rapidly as a very low (under 1″), shade loving ground cover.
- CHINESE MEDICINAL MINT: (BO-HE) When you read “mint” in Chinese medical texts, this is it. Used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to dispel wind and heat.
- ‘EAU DE COLOGNE’ MINT: A peppermint hybrid from the perfume fields of France. (has a ‘mint with a hint of rose scent’)
- ORANGE MINT: Dark green leaves with a purple tinge and a fine spicy citrus scent and taste. Extremely fragrant.
- PENNYROYAL ‘English’: (M. pulegium) A creeping aromatic mint used to repel fleas and cause abortions. Use with care if pregnant. As an abortificant, it’s very harsh (not recommended-there are now much more safe methods available in most areas of the world). Spreads easily by runners and seed.
- PEPPERMINT ‘chocolate’: Peppermint flavor with strong chocolate overtones. Quite charming. Needs to be grown in full sun to fully develop the chocolate scent.
- PEPPERMINT ‘Mitchum’: (M. piperita) The ‘Mitcham’ black peppermint variety grown commercially because of its high yields, hardiness and fine flavor. Not too invasive.
- SPEARMINT ‘Kentucky colonel: (M. spicata cv.) A large leafed, good tasting spearmint. Very fine. The one used in making mint juleps. It is also pretty fine in Mojitos.
- SPEARMINT ‘mint-the-best’: (M. spicata cv.). A fine, narrow leafed spearmint. Maybe not the best, but pretty damn good. The best to be used for Mojitos.