Acinos alpinus

Alpine acinos ( Acinos alpinus )

The Alpine - acinos or the stone - mountain mint ( Acinos alpinus [= Calamintha alpina, alpinum Clinopodium ] ) is a plant of the genus acinos in the mint family ( Lamiaceae).

Features

The perennial plant is between 10 to 20 cm high and has the basic woody stems and prostrate to ascending stems ( subshrub ). The leaves are decussate, short -stalked and ovate to elliptic, entire or serrated front. The short- stalked flowers are about 3-8 whorls in the upper leaf axils, with shorter bracts. The crown is tubular and 10 to 20 mm long, red-purple with white spots on the three-lobed lower lip. The cup is brownish, tubular and constricted in the middle, clearly zweilippig.

Whole plant smells aromatic peppermint -like and contains the same active ingredients (mainly essential oils) as the related savory, albeit to a lesser extent.

Bloom time is from June to September.

Occurrence

The lime-loving plant prefers rocky turf, rubble and rocky slopes of the valley up to 2,700 m. The circulation area covers the mountains of central and southern Europe and North Africa to Asia Minor.

In Austria it is common in all provinces, lacking in Vienna and Burgenland.

Others

Occasionally, the Alpine still need him to flavor cheese or in folk medicine as a stomach -strengthening and nerve stimulant.

The plant is pollinated by bees, bumblebees and butterflies.