name: Mentha

flavor_db_name_variants: mentha

source: foodb

status: draft

food_db_id: Mentha

id: 109

name_scientific: Mentha

description: Mentha (also known as Mint, from Greek míntha, Linear B mi-ta) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae (mint family). The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally. Many other hybrids as well as numerous cultivars are known in cultivation. The genus has a subcosmopolitan distribution across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and North America. Mints are aromatic, almost exclusively perennial, rarely annual, herbs. They have wide-spreading underground and overground stolons and erect, square, branched stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, from oblong to lanceolate, often downy, and with a serrate margin. Leaf colors range from dark green and gray-green to purple, blue, and sometimes pale yellow. The flowers are white to purple and produced in false whorls called verticillasters. The corolla is two-lipped with four subequal lobes, the upper lobe usually the largest. The fruit is a small, dry capsule containing one to four seeds. While the species that make up the Mentha genus are widely distributed and can be found in many environments, most Mentha grow best in wet environments and moist soils. Mints will grow 10?120 cm tall and can spread over an indeterminate area. Due to their tendency to spread unchecked, mints are considered invasive.

itis_id: 32264

wikipedia_id: Mentha

picture_file_name: 109.jpg

picture_content_type: image/jpeg

picture_file_size: 161559

picture_updated_at: 2012-04-20T09:35:56.000Z

legacy_id: 116

food_group: Herbs and Spices

food_subgroup: Herbs

food_type: Type 1

created_at: 2011-02-09T00:37:20.000Z

updated_at: 2019-05-14T18:04:16.000Z

creator_id: null

updater_id: null

export_to_afcdb: false

category: specific

ncbi_taxonomy_id: 21819

export_to_foodb: true

public_id: FOOD00109