Mentha x piperita L.
| Family: | LAMIACEAE |
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| Sub-Family: | Not available | ||||
| English Name: | Peppermint | ||||
| Synonym: | Mentha xodorata Sole | ||||
| Common Name: | Not available | ||||
| Flowering & Fruiting Period: | January-April | ||||
| Distribution: | Europe to Central Asia | ||||
| Habitat: | Cultivated | ||||
| Uses: | Leaves - raw or cooked. Used as a flavouring in salads or cooked foods. A herb tea is made from the fresh or dried leaves. A tea made from the leaves has traditionally been used in the treatment of fevers, headaches, digestive disorders and various minor ailments. The essential oil in the leaves is antiseptic, though it is toxic in large doses. An essential oil obtained from the whole plant is a source of lavender oil which is used in perfumery. | ||||
| Key Characteristics: | Erect-ascending, with subterraneous or superterraneous stolons, strongly aromatic, perennial herbs. Stems 4-angular, suffused with dark purple, glabrous. Leaves opposite, ovate-lanceolate, with a rounded or acute base, acute, serrate, glabrous, gland-punctate; petioles 0.7-1 cm long. Verticillasters combined into a terminal, interrupted inflorescence of 10-30 cm long. Pedicels 0.1-0.15 cm long. Calyx 0.28-0.3 cm long, glabrous, 13-nerved, gland-punctate. Corolla pale-purple or pink, 0.4 cm long; lobes gland-punctate. Fruit not formed. | ||||