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DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



calyx hairy, spikes slender, interrupted. Whole plant possesses a strong 

 agreeable odor. Damp places. 



2. M. piperita, L. (Peppermint.) Stem quadrangular and grooved, some- 

 times hairy, from 1 to 2 feet high, slender, weak, purplish, and branching. 

 Leaves on short petioles, ovate, pointed, and serrate, dark green above, smooth 

 and shining, paler underneath, with purplish veins. Flowers in terminal 

 spikes, lower parts interrupted, tlie lower whorl remote; bracts lanceolate and 

 ciliate ; calyx furrowed, with 5 dark purple ciliated striae ; corolla purple ; 

 filaments short, anthers included ; stigma forked. 



Var. subhirsuta, Benth. Has scattered hairs on the petioles and veins of 

 the leaves. 



There are many species to this genus, but those we have described are the 

 most important, and the only ones that possess any economic or commercial 

 value. 



Geography. — The geographical distribution of the mint is a belt between 

 35° and 50° of north latitude, extending from the eastern side of the Missis- 

 sippi valley to Japan. Loudon claims England 

 as the home of the spearmint, as well as the 

 peppermint. The M. Piperita is found wild in 

 Hindustan, Japan, Persia, northwestern India, 

 and in Egypt. In the days of Liuugeus it was 

 a well-known plant in gardens throughout cen- 

 tral Europe. 



Both these species were brought to the British 

 colonies in North America by European emi- 

 grants, and have become naturalized throughout 

 the northern and middle Atlantic States. 



Ettjmology. — Mentha, the generic name, is 

 said to have been given to this plant in honor 

 of Mintha, the daughter of Coc\i;us, who ac- 

 cording to the myth was turned into mint by 

 Proserpine in a fit of jealousy. Viridis is the 

 Latin word for green, due to the color of the 

 plant. Piperita, from the Greek irUepi, pepper, 

 was given to this species on account of the bit- 

 ing pungency of the taste of the leaves. Spear- 

 mint is due to the spear-shaped spikes in which the flowers appear. Pepper- 

 mint is merely a translation of Piperita. Mint is supposed to be a corruption 

 of the word mentha, or mintha. 



History. — Mentha viridis, or spearmint, was under cultivation in the con- 

 vent gardens in the ninth century. The exact locality which may be claimed 

 as its home is not known, but it is a European plant. 



It is claimed that the mentha piperita is a native of England, was discov- 

 ered in Hertfordshire by a physician in 1696, and was described by Ray. 



Cultivation. — It is cultivated for the production of oil of peppermint, which 

 is obtained by distilling the green plant. 



The cultivation for this purpose is carried on in England, on the European 

 continent, and in the States of New York and Ohio in North America. The 

 ground, which should be damp, is prepared in furrows, and roots are laid in 

 them, after which they are lightly covered with earth and allowed to grow till 



Mentha piperita (Peppermint). 



