Genus Mentha L.
Род 666 (3). МЕНТА — MENTHA L.¹
L. Sp. PL, ed. 1 (1753) 576; Gen. PI, ed. 5 (1754) 250.
Fam: Labiatae Juss. (Lamiaceae)
Genus: Mentha L.
English Name: MintDescription: Perennial, rarely annual herbaceous plants with creeping, rooted in the nodes roots. Leaves with specific aromatic epidermal glands. Blossoms bisexual or females of the same individual (female single-domed) or of different individuals (female dioctomes), assembled several in semi-umbels, located in the bosom of the upper leaves, forming multi-blossom, usually dense vertebrae; the latter forming spherical or oblong grain grade similar inflorescences; bracts foliar or reduced. The calyx is an actomorphic or unclear twin, trumpet or bell shaped, with 10 - 13 veins, with 5 (rarely 4), almost equal to clearly uneven teeth. The crown is slightly double-pointed with four, almost equal shares, the upper share wider and usually the top incised; the tube shorter than the calyx. Stamens almost equal, spread out or ascending below the upper gum lip, exceeding the corolla (with the exception of female flowers and most hybrids in which they are reduced or absent); anthers two-sided with equal and parallel nests. The nuts are smooth, with small wells, reticulated or granular rough. Protandric, insect and self-polinating. Propagated with seeds and vegetative shoots.
Business significance. Etheric oil and honey plants used in folk and formal medicine and pharmacy.
Note. All Bulgarian representatives (except M. pulegium) refer to the Mentha section and have similar and common features and features of reproduction. The plants are self-compatible and often form seeds in self-pollination. A significant degree of cross-pollination is ensured through the female dowry. In most populations, mixed plants are found - bipolar, functionally feminine (due to lack of development of the anthers), as well as individuals with bipolar and feminine blossoms, which differentiation is controlled both genetically and by environmental conditions. Blossoms are protandric and are visited by a variety of insect species, especially Diptera.
Hybrids are common in nature and especially in the contact areas of the parent species, although it seems likely that the team is only active in seedlings. Sometimes the hybrids form fertile seeds and a complex hybrid population is formed. Crossing attempts show that while the hybrids of the same plane are, in general, highly fertile, these interspecies of different planar level exhibit a high degree of sterility. It was found that seeds harvested by these hybrids gave a generation showing hybrid degradation, often with little chance of survival under natural conditions. Sterile hybrids usually have underdeveloped anthers, but even when they develop normally, meiosis does not work properly. However, sometimes abnormally large pollen grains whose content is dyed and may possibly be due to accidental occurrence of backscatter including unreduced hybrid gametes have been observed. The tortoises are plants with a powerful, root system, which multiplies and occupies new areas. As a result, their populations, despite the large number of individuals present, are often made up of a small number of genotypes.
Hybrids that have reached maturity are usually powerful plants, and vegetative propagation is often cloned and occupies new areas where parent species are absent. In conditions where sexual reproduction is not favored, sterile and sub-fertile hybrids can successfully compete with pure species and build durable components of the populations.
Cultivation of mint has a long history since antiquity and many of today's crops may be too old. Artificial reproduction is almost entirely through rhizomes, with which only individual desirable branches are selected and maintained. The importance of vegetative propagation can be seen in separate branches, which are wide. cultivated in some countries, and sometimes naturalized. Research on essential oils (Harley, Bell, 1967) has shown that some taxa are entirely of clonal origin. Often, when these plants are carried away from the population or the conditions in which they occur, it is difficult to establish their relationship. Therefore, non-critical treatment of plants of unknown origin or unknown population can lead to many wrong conclusions.
Like many other plants found in damp locations, mints exhibit high phenotypic plasticity, influenced by the amount of water, light and nutrients available. This is another reason for the taxonomic problems in the genus, which have found a clear expression in the developments on it, published in the 19th and 20th centuries. The enormous number of virid and inter-species epithets recognized by them have made it difficult and discouraged by modern studies of the genus. Of this type are the numerous taxa and hybrids, described and indicated for the Bulgarian flora by Trautman and Urumov. In most cases, they are described by individuals of a single branch or mixed population and are free of taxonomic value. For ease of use they are listed in alphabetical order after each type in a note.
In this development, the greatest difficulty in determining is either due to the presence of a large number of atypical individuals, such as small, developed in poor conditions or in shady places, or hybrids (some of the species, such as M. spicata, of hybrid origin). For this purpose, it is desirable, where possible, to collect more material from the same population. The measurements of the leaves refer to the average of the main stalk and the length of the calyx is measured during flowering. In some plants, the calyx are deformed by the calves of Asphodylia ignorata.
Table for determination of the species
1 Calyx with distinctly uneven teeth, fibrous in the opening ............................................................................................................. 1. - M. pulegium L.
1* Calyx with equal or almost equal teeth, naked in the hole .......................................................................................................................................... 2
2 Bracts similar of leaves; complex inflorescence ending with leaves or very small vertebrae............................................................................................. 3
2* Bracts mainly small and inconspicuous, not similar to the leaves, upper vertebrae clustered in top-class or roundabouts complicated inflorescences........ 6
3 Fibrous green plants, usually fertile calyx 1.5 - 2.5 mm long, wide bell; toothed or wide triangular teeth…………………………… 2 . -M. arvensis L.
3* Plants naked or fibrous, often with red hue, usually sterile; the calyx 2 - 4 mm long, narrow bell or trumpet, the teeth narrowly triangular or striking....... 4
4 Calyx bell similar, 2.0 - 3.5 mm long, teeth rarely longer than 1 mm; nude or fibrous plants ..................................................................... M. x. gentilis L.
4* Calyx tubular, 3.5 - 4.0 mm long or shorter, but then the tooth is usually 1.0 - 1.5 mm long and the plants are clearly fibrous........................................ 5
5 Naked plants with pleasant smell; upper bracts usually rounded, elongated sharp............................................................... M. x smithiana R. A. Graham
5* Plants clearly fibrous with unpleasant odor; upper bracts ovoid up toovate-lance, not prolonged sharp.......………………………… M. x verticillata L.
6 Leaves si6tting down (rarely bottom with very short stems); vertebrae assembled in vertebrae, 5 - 15 mm diameter.............. ... 4 - 6. group M. spicata.
6* Leaves with stems; vertebrae in elongated or elongated classes - 12 - 20 mm in diameter........................................................................................... 7
7 The vertebrae in oblong classes; the leaves are usually lance; sterile plants.......................................................................................... - M. piperita L.
7* Vertebrae in globular inflorescences, sometimes with 2 - 3 separate vertebrae below them; leaves usually ovate......................................................... 8
8 The leaves and the calyx tube fibrous; fertile plants ...................................................................................................................... 3. - M. aquatica L.
8* The leaves and the calyx tube naked; sterile plants .............................................................................................................................. - M. piperita L.¹Developed by R. Harley (Kew) and Bogdan Kuzmanov
From „Флора на Н. Р. България”, том IX, БАН, София, (1989)
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Mentha (also known as mint, from Greek míntha,[2] Linear B mi-ta)[3] is a genus of plants in the family Lamiaceae (mint family).[4] It is estimated that 13 to 18 species exist, and the exact distinction between species is still unclear.[5] Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally. Many other hybrids, as well as numerous cultivars, are known.
The genus has a subcosmopolitan distribution across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and North America.[6]
Mints are aromatic, almost exclusively perennial herbs. They have wide-spreading underground and overground stolons[7] and erect, square,[8] branched stems. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, from oblong to lanceolate, often downy, and with a serrated margin. Leaf colors range from dark green and gray-green to purple, blue, and sometimes pale yellow.[6] The flowers are white to purple and produced in false whorls called verticillasters. The corolla is two-lipped with four subequal lobes, the upper lobe usually the largest. The fruit is a nutlet, containing one to four seeds.
While the species that make up the genus Mentha are widely distributed and can be found in many environments, most grow best in wet environments and moist soils. Mints will grow 10–120 cm tall and can spread over an indeterminate area. Due to their tendency to spread unchecked, some mints are considered invasive.[9]From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Distribution in Bulgaria: (Conspectus of the Bulgarian Vascular Flora) = conspectus&gs_l= Zlc.
Distribution:References: „Флора на Н. Р. България”, том IX, БАН, София, (1989), Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SPECIES:
Mentha aquatica L. - Water mint
Mentha longifolia (L.) Hudson - Horse mint
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