Mentha arvensis

LATIN NAME: Mentha arvensis

COMMON NAME: Field Mint

The field mint is the cool green of the damp meadow, and the whorls of the small, pale-violet flowers sit along the square stems. The upright or low, spreading, perennial plant carries the oval, toothed, green leaves with the fine, cool scent and the whorls of the small, pale-violet or white flowers in the upper leaf axils through the summer, one of the fine, quiet sights of the damp meadow. The plant is a fine, generous presence of the herb garden and the wild patch. It is a plant of the open, sunny to partly shaded, moist, rich ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The field mint is a useful subject of the plant science, and the cool scent keeps showing up in the work on the mint group. The chemistry of the essential oils of the mints has been studied at length, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the aromatic herbs, the essential-oil plants and the members of the mint family. The oval, toothed leaves and the square stems have also made it a fine study plant, and the field mint is a regular subject of the work on the cool green ways of the mint world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The field mint is a fine, generous plant of the herb garden and the wild patch. The oval, toothed leaves carry the fine, cool scent of the mint, brewed into the fresh, cooling teas and added to the salads, the sauces and the cool drinks of the summer table, and the whorls of the small, pale-violet flowers draw the bees through the summer. The plant spreads into the fine, green ground cover of the damp meadow, and it is one of the fine choices for the herb garden, the moist border and the wild patch. It has been written about in the culinary and the botanical papers for the cool scent and the fresh ways, and it is a fine, generous plant of the open, sunny to partly shaded, moist, rich garden.

Keep the roots within the sunken pot or the edge, for the mint spreads fast into the damp ground.

To grow the field mint from seed, sow the small, brown seeds over the surface of a tray of damp seed compost, without covering them, keep the tray in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out in the open ground. The seedlings are up within a couple of weeks and spread fast. With the sun or the light shade and the moist, rich ground, the cool green will spread through the summer.

It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 10–60 cm (rarely to 100 cm) tall. The leaves are in opposite pairs, simple, 2–6.5 cm long and 1–2 cm broad, hairy, and with a coarsely serrated margin. The flowers are pale purple (occasionally white or pink), in clusters on the stem, each flower 3–4 mm long.