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#1
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help id mint?
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 -- Joe http://www.joekaz.net/ |
#2
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help id mint?
On Sat, 09 Aug 2003 17:07:07 -0400, 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 I cannot be sure, but it looks an awful lot like lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) to me. My lemon balm did not spread aggressively. Does it have a lemony smell when you crush a leaf? Pat |
#3
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help id mint?
I looked and I don't know - the flowers are not peppermint or spearmint, both
of whom have smaller flowers. It almost looks to me to have catnip-type flowers. Could it be a pineapple mint or one of those other hybrid scents? They all smell minty, but not as strong as true mint. I'll have to take a look at the garden center... -=epm=- In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same. - Albert Einstein |
#4
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help id mint?
On 08/09/2003 05:12 PM, Pat Meadows said:
On Sat, 09 Aug 2003 17:07:07 -0400, 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 I cannot be sure, but it looks an awful lot like lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) to me. My lemon balm did not spread aggressively. Does it have a lemony smell when you crush a leaf? Pat I have time naming smells sometimes, but it's not lemony. Peppermint is the closest I can describe it, but I don't think that's right either. -- Joe http://www.joekaz.net/ |
#5
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help id mint?
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 -- Henriette Kress, AHG Helsinki, Finland Henriette's herbal homepage: http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed |
#6
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help id mint?
On Sat, 09 Aug 2003 18:20:52 -0400, Joe
wrote: I have time naming smells sometimes, but it's not lemony. Peppermint is the closest I can describe it, but I don't think that's right either. I think not lemon balm then, it has a very distinct lemony smell. Pat |
#7
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help id mint?
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/ |
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