Spearmint
Spearmint (Mentha spicata )
The Spearmint (Mentha spicata ), also spiked mint, spear mint or spearmint belongs to the family Lamiaceae ( Lamiaceae).
Description
Appearance and leaf
The Spearmint grows as a perennial, herbaceous plant with plant height of 30 to 130 centimeters. She trains underground runners and has a pleasant aromatic odor. The upright, four-sided, green to reddish stems branch usually at the top and are bald until almost bald.
The leaves are arranged opposite constantly on the stem and glandular at the base of the leaf. The simple, almost bare leaf blade is ovate - oblong to narrow - lanceolate with a length of 2 to 7 centimeters and a width of 0.5 to 2 inches and sessile or with up to two millimeters long stems. The Spreitengrund is heart-shaped, rounded or broadly thickness taper, cut the Spreitenrand irregular and the Spreitenapex acuminate acute to long.
Inflorescence and flower
The July to September appearing of flowers with about two millimeters long flower stems are arranged in many-flowered Scheinquirlen. You are in terminal, interrupted at the base, cylindrical, spike -like inflorescences with a length of four to ten centimeters. The five to eight millimeters long, linealischen bracts are shorter or the same length as the flowers.
The five unequal, 1.5 to 2 mm long, glandular sepals are fused bell-shaped and either hairless or ciliate at the calyx lobes. The more or less uniform, triangular - lanceolate sepals are about one millimeter long. The five white, pale pink to purple petals form the union about 2.5 to 4 mm long, hairless crown and have grown to about two millimeters long corolla tube. The almost uniform corolla lobes have a ausgerandete tip. The four equally long stamens protrude from the crown.
Fruit
The spearmint is dark brown Klausen.
Dissemination
The Spearmint is in Europe, North Africa, Asia Minor, the Caucasus region, located in the Central Asian Turkmenistan to Pakistan, Nepal and China. The original European distribution extends from the Central European countries Switzerland, Slovenia and Croatia on the south-eastern Europe with the Mediterranean islands to Cyprus and Italy with Sicily and Sardinia to the Spanish Balearic island of Mallorca. In addition, it is widespread in the wider Europe as a neophyte and was cultivated and naturalized widely used globally. So settled spearmint in Germany nutrient-rich shrub and weed corridors. In Austria it is cultivated more or less frequently and occasionally wild inconstant.
System
Mentha spicata was described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, Volume 2, page 578. Mentha spicata are synonyms for Mentha aquatica var crispa (L.) Benth., Mentha cordifolia Opiz ex Fresen. , Mentha crispa L., Mentha crispata Schrad. , Mentha lejeuneana Opiz, Mentha pudina Buch.-Ham. ex Benth., Mentha rosanii Ten., Mentha crispa L., Mentha spicata var ciliata Druce, Mentha spicata var crispa ( Benth. ) Danert, Mentha spicata var viridis L., Mentha undulata Willd., Mentha × villosa var cordifolia ( Opiz ex Fresen. ) Lebeau, Mentha viridis (L.) L..
The Spearmint is an octoploid species and possibly originated from a hybridization of Mentha longifolia and Mentha suaveolens. She is one of the original species of peppermint (Mentha x piperita).
In addition to the nominotypischen subspecies, two subspecies are recognized:
- Mentha spicata L. subsp. spicata
- Mentha spicata L. subsp. condensata ( Briq. ) Greuter & Burdet ( syn. Mentha microphylla K.Koch, Mentha spicata subsp tomentosa ( Briq. ) Harley, Mentha tomentosa d' Urv, Mentha tomentosa subsp condensata Briq, Mentha tomentosa subsp tomentosa Briq. .. .. . , (nom. illeg. ) ): The home is located in the south and south-east Europe with Italy, former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Albania, Greece including Crete, Cyprus and western Turkey. The species was naturalized in New Zealand.
- Mentha spicata L.subsp. glabrata ( Lej. & Courtois ) Lebeau ( syn. Mentha viridis var glabrata Lej & Courtois. ): This subspecies is native to the Balearic island of Majorca and was naturalized in Germany.