Minthostachys

Minthostachys mollis

Minthostachys is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family ( Lamiaceae). The less than 12 to about 17 species are distributed in South America from Venezuela along the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia to central Argentina.

Description

Minthostachys species are aromatic, spreizklimmende shrubs. The flowers are fünfzählig double perianth. The calyx is radial symmetry. The corolla is zygomorphic.

The chromosome number is 2n = 46

Use and protection

The Minthostachys species are appreciated by the local population because of their essential oils, which are mostly about pulegone and menthone, but also limonene, carvone, carvacrol, thymol and similar substances. They are used as a tea plants, spices, medicine against suffering of the digestive and respiratory systems and traditional as pest repellents in the storage of potato and Ocaknollen. In Argentina and Peru, the oil is partially extracted on a commercial scale, and this has at least locally in recent years to a strong over-exploitation. Therefore Argentine scientists are increasingly looking for ways to protect wild populations of Minthostachys or to domesticate the plants in order to meet the growing demand in this way can.

Some species and common names

The most common types are Minthostachys mollis with a distribution from Venezuela to Bolivia and Minthostachys verticillata from Argentina. Many species have a very narrow distribution, but are then locally very often, about Minthostachys acutifolia around La Paz and Minthostachys ovata in central Bolivia. The common names that are used in the Andes, not usually differ between species, but vary from region to region. In Ecuador, the genus as Tipo or Poleo is known in northern Peru it is called Chancua. However, the most well-known names are Muña, especially in central Peru to Bolivia and Peperina, is the common name in Argentina.

System

The genus Minthostachys in 1840 by Édouard Spach in Histoire Naturelle of Végétaux. Phanérogames, 9, p 164 positioned. The basionym is Bystropogon sect. Minthostachys Benth, which in George Bentham. Was published Labiatarum Genera et Species, 1834, p 325. As Lectotypusart 1936 Minthostachys spicata ( Benth. ) Epling by Carl Clawson Epling in repertory specierum Novarum Regni Vegetabilis - Central Journal for the collection and publication of individual diagnoses of new plants, Supplement 85, pp. 162 set. The latest revision of the genus Minthostachys is: Alexander Nikolai Schmidt- Lebuhn: A revision of the genus Minthostachys ( Labiatae ), In: . Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 2008, pp. 1-75.

The genus belongs to the subtribe Minthostachys Menthinae the tribe Mentheae in the subfamily Nepetoideae within the Lamiaceae family.

There are less than 12 to about 17 Minthostachys types:

  • Minthostachys acris Schmidt- Leb.
  • Minthostachys acutifolia Epling
  • Minthostachys andina ( Britton ex Rusby ) Epling
  • Minthostachys diffusa Epling
  • Minthostachys dimorpha Schmidt- Leb.
  • Minthostachys elongata Schmidt- Leb.
  • Minthostachys fusca Schmidt- Leb.
  • Minthostachys glabrescens ( Benth. ) Epling
  • Minthostachys latifolia Schmidt- Leb.
  • Minthostachys mollis ( Benth. ) Griseb.
  • Minthostachys ovata ( Briq. ) Epling
  • Minthostachys rubra Schmidt- Leb.
  • Minthostachys salicifolia Epling
  • Minthostachys septentrionalis Schmidt- Leb.
  • Minthostachys setosa ( Briq. ) Epling
  • Minthostachys spicata ( Benth. ) Epling
  • Minthostachys verticillata ( Griseb. ) Epling
Asterids Digital Object Identifier Agricultural Research Service
574579
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