Mentha piperita L.
Fam. Labiatae
Ing. Peppermint
Sp. Minta pimentada
Ted. Pfefferminze
Dialect names: Mentassu (Lig.), Mentasi (Piem.), Menta salvadega (Lomb.), Puniol (Ven.), Mintastar (Em.), White mint (Tosc.), Mentone (Marche), Menta pedacqua (Abr.), Amenta (Camp.), Menta servaggia (Cal.), Mintastro (Sic.), Menta de riu (Sard.).
Description
Mint is a herbaceous plant, perennial, 50-60 cm tall, provided with a fibrous, branched rhizome, which forms numerous stolons; quadrangular stem, erect, branched, tinged with purple or green; opposite leaves, petiolate, lanceolate and toothed; pinkish-purple or white flowers, grouped in whorls forming short spikes (spicastri). The flowers have a gamosepal, cylindrical, campanulate calyx, composed of five teeth covered with hairs; the gamopetala corolla, longer than the calyx, has four similar lobes; they have 4 unequal stamens. It blooms in July
fruit: tetrachenium composed of four smooth cocci;
aroma of the plant: pungent
flavor: spicy combined with a sense of freshness
Areal
There Peppermint it is believed to be native to Europe. It lives from the maritime area to the mountain region, in humid places, along rivers and streams. It is sometimes found as a wild species. The major cultivation areas are located in Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, England, Morocco, Italy.
Culture
Mint shuns clayey and cold soils preferring permeable, relatively light and fresh ones, rich in organic matter and sub-acids.
Although mint is a perennial plant, the cultivation almost always lasts one year since, from the second year onwards, the plants produce large quantities of stolons which depress the constitution of epigeal biomass. Being a sterile hybrid, mint propagates only by agamic way using stolons taken from a one-year-old mint; the length of the stolons should not be less than 15 cm; the arrangement of the plants is in rows 40-50 cm apart, the optimal density oscillates around 10-15 plants per square meter.
Mint is a demanding crop especially in nitrogen and potassium. It has been repeatedly found that nitrogen increases the content of menthol and menton in the essence.
Adversity: the crop is subject to adversity by Funghi (Puccinia menthae, Verticillum dahliae, V. albo-atrum, V. nigrescens) which acting on the conducting vessels often lead to the drying out of the whole plant Erysiphe cichoracearum And Ramularia menthicola they attack the leaves, while Rizoctonia solani it causes rot at the level of the root system. Insects: such as lepidoptera, whose larvae live at the expense of the epigeal part of the plant, and some beetles and hemiptera. Weeds: Artemisia verlotorum
Drug: the leaves and the flowering tops, from which an essential oil of mint is extracted which contains menthol, menton, mentofuran and a little sesquiterpenes.
Product collection and yields
Mint is normally harvested twice during the summer season, by mowing the plants close to the ground, preferably in the early hours of the day.
The first mowing takes place, in Italy, in July in pre-flowering, the second at the end of summer. A good crop of mint can produce a biomass of 25-30 t / ha, whose dry yield is approximately 25%.
Uses
In herbal medicine: mint has an antiseptic and refreshing action, it is also antispasmodic and is used for digestive teas, together with verbena and lime, and as a mild analgesic for stomach pains, in nervous excitement and in cases of insomnia.
In cosmetics: mint is used to flavor toothpastes and mouthwashes.
In dietetics: mint is used in the confectionery, food and liquor industry and to flavor pharmaceutical products.
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