Nomenclature

Species name:

Mentha pulegium   L.

Author(s):

Carl von Linné
   Sweden, 1707-1778

General names:

Peppermint
European Pennroyal
Pennyroyal Mint

Maltese name:

Plejju

Plant Family:

Lamiaceae / Labiatae   (Mint Family)

Name Derivation:

Mentha = A name for an unfortunate Greek nymph named Mentha who got herself turned into a mint plant, and a genus of culinary herbs named after her, this is one of the oldest plant names still in use. (Latin);
pulegium = From the Latin word 'pulex', - a flea-repellant. (Latin).

Synonyms:

Pulegium vulgare, Melissa pulegium, Mentha aromatica, Mentha aucheri, Mentha daghestanica, Mentha gibraltarica, Mentha tomentella, Mentha tomentosa

Plant Description

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Habitat:

Valley bottoms, damp shaded places, cultivated or waste places near damns or water courses.

Sources in Malta:

Frequent such as in Chadwick lakes, Wied Incita and Wied tal-Mistra.

Plant Height:

15-40cm long

Flowering Time:

Apr-Aug

An plant that has a particular and distinguishable peppermint-like odour (for some pungent, for others acceptable) that is given off especially during the flowering time; an odour typically present at several valley bottoms or water courses.

The plant is perennial thanks to the all-year living underground creeping rhizomes. It forms procumbent to ascending, hairy stems, with flowering stalks always being upright. In autumn, aerial rootlets are formed from stems lying on wet ground. When these roots establish in the soil, the new 'daughter plant' gets independent from the mother plant, hence giving rise to a form of asexual reproduction. This propagation method is common in several mint plants, including some cultivated spice herbs.

The leaves are found in opposite decussate pairs that are subsessile when young, and becomes shortly petiolated later on. They have oval or spindle shaped leaves, often with a smooth margin (sometimes with 3-6 small teeth on each edge). They are shortly and sparsely haired below. Bracts leaf-like but smaller.

The inflorescence consists of a dense, multi-flowered verticillasters, forming a sub-spherical structure of radiating flowers around the flowering stalk. The inflorescence clusters are found spaced at regular intervals along the flowering stalk, with the lower cluster being slightly wider from the younger above. This forms an interesting flower stalk with several 'balls' of violet flower clusters gradually becoming smaller in size towards the tip.

Each flower consists of a tubular, toothed calyx and a small, 2-lipped, violet-lilac corolla with a white throat (centre). The calyx is 2-3mm long, nearly actinomorphic and composed of 5 ciliated teeth, with the upper one being shorter and broader while the lower one is longer and narrower. The 5-6mm long corolla consists of 2 lips, with the lower one further subdivided into 3 lobes, each being identical to each other and to the upper lip, hence giving a general appearance that the corolla consists of 4 small petals rather than a 2-lipped morphology. Corolla tube shorter from calyx with lobes being conspicuously ciliated.

The flower's male reproductive organs consists of 4 stamens that are firm, divergent and protruding out from the corolla. They have thin, white filaments and small, lilac-purple anthers. The female part is a central pistil with a small ovary hidden at the base of the calyx and a white style as long as the stamens. Stigma divided into 2 parts with swollen tips.

The fruit is composed of 4, small ( < 1mm), brown nutlets sheltered inside the calyx, which when ripe, they become loose and fall off without any special means of dispersion.

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