THE MINTS 



By Adella Prescott. 



\ ' HE Mint family (Labiatae) is a large one and fortunately 

 for the human race is widely distributed. It certainly 

 has done much to make life worth living. The modern baby 

 may be ignorant of the taste of catnip tea but his parents and 

 grandparents know it well. It did much to relieve their in- 

 fantile woes and I am not sure but the modern baby and even 

 some children of larger growth — notably some of our eminent 

 statesmen — ^would find in a bowlful of catnip tea judiciously 

 sweetened and mellowed with cream a welcome relief from the 

 nervous strain of social life. 



As the child of other days grew older, peppermint gave 

 relief tO' many a childish pain and in the form of pink and white 

 candies brightened long and prosy sermons. Sage shared with 

 saffron the honor of ''bringing out" measles and other youthful 

 rashes and of still another mint only a Kentucky colonel could 

 speak in adequate terms of praise. Nor is usefulness their only 

 excuse for being, for some of them have much beauty and 

 pleasing fragrance. 



While the mints are many and various, they are not diffi- 

 cult for even the amateur botanist to distinguish. When he 

 finds a plant with square stems and opposite aromatic leaves he 

 may quite safely decide that it is a mint. The flowers of these 

 plants have noticeable characteristics also. They have a more 

 or less well-marked two-lipped corolla with stamens diandrous 

 or didynamous; that is, in pairs or in two pairs of unequal 



