MENTHA. 



Leaves subsessile, ovate-lanceolate, unequally serrated, smooth ; those 

 under the flowers all bract-like, rather longer than the whorls ; these 

 last and the calyxes hairy or smooth. Spikes cylindrical, loose. 

 Whorls approximated, or the lowest or all of them distant. Benth. — 

 The herb has a strong, peculiar and pleasant odour, with an aromatic 

 bitter taste, followed by a sense of coldness when air is drawn into the 

 mouth. It is an aromatic and carminative, and employed in flatulence 

 and to relieve the pain of colic. Various preparations are ordered by 

 Pharmacopoeias, of which oil of spearmint, and spearmint water are the 

 most common. The former is taken in doses of from 2 to 5 drops, 

 rubbed with sugar, in a little water. 



1000. M. piperita Linn. sp. pi. 805. Eng. Bot. t. 687. 

 Soles mints t. 7. Smith Eng. El. iii. 76. Bentham lab. 175. 



— M. glabrata Vahl. kahirina Forsk. balsamea Willd. hirta 

 Willd. Pimentum N. ab E. — In marshes and by the sides of 

 ditches and rivers, all over Europe, in Egypt, the middle of Asia, 

 India, and North and South America. (Peppermint.) 



Stem procumbent, ascending, branched, reddish, quite smooth, or 

 fringed with a very few spreading hairs ; petioles generally ciliated. 

 Leaves ovate-oblong, or somewhat lanceolate, rounded at the base, 

 deep green, smooth or hairy on the under side. Upper floral leaves 

 small, lanceolate-subulate, shorter than the flowers. Whorls few, lax, 

 the uppermost collected into a short, oblong, obtuse, reddish spike; 

 the lowermost remote, with the cymes shortly stalked. Bracts sub- 

 ulate, the outer ones as long as the calyx. Pedicels quite smooth. 

 Teeth of the calyx hispid, subulate, erect. Bentham. — Peppermint is 

 an aromatic stimulant and the most pleasant of all the mints. It is 

 employed in medicine for several purposes, principally to expel flatus, 

 to cover the unpleasant taste of other medicines, and to relieve nausea 

 and griping pains of the alimentary canal. The volatile oil is sometimes 

 taken as an antispasmodic ; it is what gives their flavour to peppermint 

 lozenges. Pereira. 



1001. M. Pulegium Linn. sp. pi. 807. Eng. Bot. t. 1026. 

 Woodv. t. 171. Sole's mints t. 23. Bentham lab. 182. — 

 M. exigua Linn, simplex Host, tomentosa Smith, tomentella 

 Hffsgg. and Link, gibraltarica Willd. pulegioides Rchb. Pu- 

 legium vulgare Mill. diet. No. 1. P. tomentellum Presl. sic. 36« 



— Wet ditches and similar places in most parts of Europe ; 

 also the Caucasus, Chili, and Teneriffe. (Pennyroyal.) 



Stems procumbent or prostrate, very much branched, more or less 

 hairy, rooting. Leaves scarcely \ an inch long, often much less, 

 stalked, ovate, obtuse, with a few shallow unequal serratures, full of 

 pellucid dots, and a little hairy, chiefly underneath. Whorls sessile, 

 numerous, many-flowered, globose, distant, large in proportion to the 

 foliage. Flowers light purple or nearly white. Calyx hispid, 2-lipped, 

 villous in the inside of the throat. — The properties of this are 

 analogous to those of other mints. The public fancy it to be possessed 

 of specific emmenagogue and antispasmodic qualities ; an opinion 

 formerly entertained of it by some medical practitioners. It is prin- 

 cipally employed in obstructed menstruation, hysterical complaints, and 

 hooping cough. Pereira. 



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