On 08/10/2003 02:01 AM, Henriette Kress said:
Joe wrote:


Can anyone help identify this mint? It grows 4 to 5 feet high, the largest
leaves are 3 inches long, the stems and leaves are a little hairy. It has a
good taste for making mint tea, and best of all, doesn't spread aggressively
like other mints that I have. This mint was here when I moved in, and I
suspect it's been here a long time and it's still a small patch:

http://www.joekaz.net/photos/whatsth...l/index_0.html


If the flowers were pinker you'd have applemint, Mentha suaveolens. That's
a real spreader. Not that I have anything against spreading mints in
general, I have about 10 "real" mints (Mentha spp.), but this particular
one takes over the peppermint patch and doesn't taste very good. So this
year I've just ripped up every applemint I've seen pop up, in my garden.
Cat**** is quite a good description of both taste and scent.
It's a species, therefore easily grown from seeds.

http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictu...suaveolens.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictu...aveolens-1.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictu...aveolens-2.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictu...aveolens-3.htm

If the leaves were narrower it could be Moroccan mint, Mentha spicata var.
crispa cv., which is very good in ice tea indeed. That doesn't spread as
much and has a nice sweetish spearminty taste - and the flowers are in
small (less than 1 cm in diameter), distinct white balls on their
flowerstems.
It's a hybrid, doesn't grow from seeds (or well, it might make seeds, but
they won't give you moroccan mint), so it has to be planted from runners.

http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed/pictu...-spicata-6.htm

Of course, mints hybridize freely, so you could have something else again.

Henriette


Thanks for the links! My mint does resemble mentha suaveolens / applemint
more than the other mints on your site. The descriptions I read say that
applemint only reaches 2 feet high, but mine are nearly 5 feet, so that seems
odd - I haven't come across any descriptions for mints this tall yet.

I found this site which mentions Egyptian mint as being fuzzy like applemint.
I never heard of this mint before, but it is described as 3 foot tall with
sturdy stems, so I think it's a possibility:
http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/menniliaca.htm


--
Joe
http://www.joekaz.net/