W125 

 (leaf 2) 



The mints typically grow in wet or moist places, and are most 

 common at medium elevations in the West. These plants are abun- 

 dant and important locally on the western ranges. The western 

 species are probably comparable to Penard mint in palatability. 



Peppermint (M. pi pen' to) , the source of the oil of peppermint 

 of commerce, is undoubtedly the most important member of the 

 genus. It is a perennial herb with branched, smooth stems; lance- 

 shaped, pointed, sharply toothed, mostly stalked, gland-dotted 

 leaves; and thick, terminal flower clusters (spikes) of purple (rarely 

 white) flowers. It is a native of Europe and is now widely natural- 

 ized in the United States, especially the East, having been introduced 

 into cultivation in this country more than 100 years ago. 1 Con- 

 siderable acreage in the United States, the principal producing 

 country, is devoted to the commercial growing of peppermint, the 

 average annual production of oil being approximately 500,000 

 pounds. 1 Peppermint oil enters into numerous medicinal products, 

 but its chief use is for flavoring candies, chewing gum, and tooth 

 paste. There is also a limited use of the dried herbage of pepper- 

 mint in medicine. 2 



Spearmint (M. spica'ta, syn. M. vi'ridis), a species very similar to 

 peppermint except that the leaves are usually stalkless, and the 

 flower clusters are narrow and interrupted, is also grown commer- 

 cially for the essential oil, oil of spearmint, which it yields. This 

 plant is a native of Europe and Asia but is now naturalized in the 

 United States even more widely than peppermint, probably because 

 spearmint is commonly grown as a culinary herb in home gardens, 

 being prized for making mint jelly, mint tea, for flavoring lamb 

 sauce, and for mint juleps. The chief commercial use of oil of 

 spearmint is for flavoring chewing gum, the average annual pro- 

 duction of oil in the United States being approximately 50,000 

 pounds. 1 



The antiseptic drug, menthol, widely used in medicinal products 

 is an ingredient of the oils of peppermint and spearmint and is 

 manufactured from them to some extent. 3 However, the chief source 

 of menthol is the Japanese mint (M. arven'sis piperas'cen$) which is 

 extensively grown in Japan, but, as yet, its commercial cultivation in 

 this country is limited. 1 



1 Sievers, A. F. PEPPERMINT AND SPEARMINT AS FARM CROPS. U. S. Dent. Agr. Farm- 

 ers' Bull. 1555, 26 pp., illus. 1929. 



2 Sievers, A. F. AMERICAN MEDICINAL PLANTS OF COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. TJ. S Dent 

 Agr. Misc. Pub. 77, 74 pp., illus. 1930. 



3 Wood, H. C., Remington, J. P., and Sadtler, S. P., assisted by Lyons, A. B., and 



Wood, H. C., Jr. THE DISPENSATORY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, BY DR. GEO. B. 



WOOD AND DR. FRANKLIN BACHE. Ed. 19, thoroughly rev. and largely rewritten 

 1.947 pp. Philadelphia and London. 1907. 



