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Mentha longifolia | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Lamiales |
Family: | Lamiaceae |
Genus: | Mentha |
Species: | M. longifolia |
Binomial name | |
Mentha longifolia | |
Synonyms | |
List
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Mentha longifolia, also known as horse mint, [1] brookmint, [2] fillymint or St. John's horsemint, is a species of plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to Europe excluding Britain and Ireland, [3] western and central Asia (east to Nepal and far western China), and northern and southern (but not tropical) Africa. [4] [5] [6]
It is a very variable herbaceous perennial plant with a peppermint-scented aroma. Like many mints, it has a creeping rhizome, with erect to creeping stems 40–120 cm tall. The leaves are oblong-elliptical to lanceolate, 5–10 cm long and 1.5–3 cm broad, thinly to densely tomentose, green to greyish-green above and white below. The flowers are 3–5 mm long, lilac, purplish, or white, produced in dense clusters (verticillasters) on tall, branched, tapering spikes; flowering in mid to late summer. It spreads via rhizomes to form clonal colonies. [6] [7] [8]
Mentha longifolia has been widely confused with tomentose variant plants of the species Mentha spicata ; it can be distinguished from these by the hairs being simple and unbranched, in contrast to the branched hairs of M. spicata. [7]
The following subspecies and varieties are recognised: [9]
Mentha longifolia hybridizes with other Mentha species. Hybrids include:
Unlike other commonly cultivated species and hybrids of mint, there are few horticultural cultivars of M. longifolia. [10] The only ones of note are:
Like almost all mints, Mentha longifolia can be invasive. Care needs to be taken when planting it in non-controlled areas.
Nicholas Culpeper's Complete Herbal (1653) states that "It is good for wind and colic in the stomach ... The juice, laid on warm, helps the King's evil or kernels in the throat ... The decoction or distilled water helps a stinking breath, proceeding from corruption of the teeth, and snuffed up the nose, purges the head. It helps the scurf or dandruff of the head used with vinegar." [11] In addition, Mentha longifolia, like other Mentha species, is known to have important medicinal properties. [12]
Nepeta is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. The genus name, from Latin nepeta (“catnip”), is reportedly in reference to Nepete, an ancient Etruscan city. There are about 250 species.
Mentha is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae. The exact distinction between species is unclear; it is estimated that 13 to 24 species exist. Hybridization occurs naturally where some species' ranges overlap. Many hybrids and cultivars are known.
Peppermint is a hybrid species of mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world. It is occasionally found in the wild with its parent species.
Spearmint, also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is a species of mint, Mentha spicata (, native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is naturalized in many other temperate parts of the world, including northern and southern Africa, North America, and South America. It is used as a flavouring in food and herbal teas. The aromatic oil, called oil of spearmint, is also used as a flavoring and sometimes as a scent.
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 in Satureja, but they have all been moved to other genera. Several species are cultivated as culinary herbs called savory, and they have become established in the wild in a few places.
Genista is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae, native to open habitats such as moorland and pasture in Europe and western Asia. They include species commonly called broom, though the term may also refer to other genera, including Cytisus and Chamaecytisus. Brooms in other genera are sometimes considered synonymous with Genista: Echinospartum, Retama, Spartium, Stauracanthus, and Ulex.
Ajuga, also known as bugleweed, ground pine, carpet bugle, or just bugle, is a genus of flowering plants in the Ajugeae tribe of the mint family Lamiaceae. There are over 60 species of annual or perennial, mostly herbaceous plants. They are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
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 southwest Asia.
Mentha suaveolens, the apple mint, pineapple mint, woolly mint or round-leafed mint, is a member of the mint family Lamiaceae. It is native to southern and western Europe including the Mediterranean region. It is a herbaceous, upright perennial plant that is most commonly grown as a culinary herb or for ground cover.
Origanum is a genus of herbaceous perennials and subshrubs in the family Lamiaceae, native to Europe, North Africa, and much of temperate Asia, where they are found in open or mountainous habitats. A few species also naturalized in scattered locations in North America and other regions.
Prostanthera, commonly known as mintbush or mint bush, is a genus of about 100 species of flowering plants in the mint family Lamiaceae, and all are endemic to Australia. Plants are usually shrubs, rarely trees with leaves in opposite pairs. The flowers are arranged in panicles in the leaf axils or on the ends of branchlets. The sepals are joined at the base with two lobes. The petals are usually blue to purple or white, joined in a tube with two "lips", the lower lip with three lobes and the upper lip with two lobes or notched.
Mentha arvensis, the corn mint, field mint, or wild mint, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It has a circumboreal distribution, being native to the temperate regions of Europe and western and central Asia, east to the Himalaya and eastern Siberia, and North America. Mentha canadensis, the related species, is also included in Mentha arvensis by some authors as two varieties, M. arvensis var. glabrata Fernald and M. arvensis var. piperascens Malinv. ex L. H. Bailey.
Mentha canadensis is a species of mint native to North America and the eastern part of Asia. In North America, it is commonly known as Canada mint, American wild mint, and in Asia as Chinese mint, Sakhalin mint, Japanese mint, and East Asian wild mint. The flowers are bluish or have a slight violet tint. The plant is upright, growing to about 4–18 in (10–46 cm) tall. Leaves grow opposite from each other, and flower bunches appear in the upper leaf axils. The mint grows in wet areas but not directly in water, so it will be found near sloughs, and lake and river edges. Plants bloom from July to August in their native habitats.
Mentha longifolia var. asiatica is known by the common name Asian mint. It is a variety of the mint species Mentha longifolia. It has also been treated as the separate species, Mentha asiatica and Mentha vagans.
Micromeria is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae, widespread across Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America, with a center of diversity in the Mediterranean region and the Canary Islands. It is sometimes placed within the genus Satureja. The name is derived from the Greek words μῑκρος (mīkros), meaning "small," and μερίς (meris), meaning "portion," referring to the leaves and flowers. Common names include savory and whitweed.
Van herbed cheese is a type of cheese made out of sheep's or cow's milk. Ripened cheese varieties containing herbs are traditional in Turkey and have been manufactured for more than 200 years in the east and southeast of the country. They are manufactured from raw milk, semi-hard in texture and salty in taste and have the aroma of garlic or thyme due to added herbs. Twenty-five types of herb, including Allium, Thymus, Silene and Ferula species which are most popular, are used individually or as appropriate mixtures. The most popular of these cheeses is Otlu which is produced mainly in the Van Province of Turkey in small dairies and villages, but now is produced in other cities of the eastern region of Turkey and its popularity increases continuously throughout Turkey.
Mentha royleana, is a species within the Mentha (mint) genus, native to eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Himalayas and Kashmir. A polymorphic perennial herb, M. royleana has seen diverse uses in traditional medicine.
Veronica incana, the silver speedwell, is a species of flowering plant in the family Plantaginaceae. It is native to parts of Eastern Europe and Russia, all of Siberia, Mongolia, and northern China, and has been introduced to Czechoslovakia. A number of authorities consider it to be a subspecies of the spiked speedwell Veronica spicata; Veronica spicata subsp. incana. It is a parent of the hybrids Veronica × czemalensis and Veronica × grisea.
Mentha x villosa is a hybrid species of mint, a cross between Mentha spicata and Mentha suaveolens.