Mentha arvensis var. javanica
Content
Description
Aromatic, prostrate, stoloniferous herb, often rooting below.
Leaves thin-membranaceous, lanceolate to broadly lanceolate, 2.5-4.5(-7) by l-2.5(-3) cm, acute, base long-cuneate, entire;
Flowers in axillary verticillasters.
Stamens either short and included or long and exserted.
Distribution
Asia-Tropical: Jawa (Jawa present); Malaya (Peninsular Malaysia present); Maluku (Maluku present); Philippines (Philippines present); Sumatera (Sumatera present), Banda present, Ceylon present, E. Timor present, Lesser Sunda Is present, Luzon present, Mindoro present, NE. Celebes present, Samar present, continental Asia present
Ceylon and ? continental Asia; in Malesia: Malay Peninsula, Sumatra (also Batu Is.), Java, Lesser Sunda Is. (E. Timor), NE. Celebes, Philippines (Mindoro, Luzon, Samar), and Moluccas (Banda).
Uses
Often cultivated. HEYNE () reported that in Java pounded leaves mixed with some chalk are used against head-ache. He gave also results of chemical analyses: oil is bitter with low menthol % and high pulegon %, and agreeable aromatic odour. OCHSE & BAKH. l.c. said it is used as a vegetable (lalab) and added to sambal for fragrancy. KLOPPENBURGH-VERSTEEG () said that extractions are used against cough and indisposition of the stomach and that it possesses sudorific quality. HARTLEY () listed it as a possible medicine against cancer.
Notes
The Malesian form differs from the European form mainly in the calyx teeth, which are separated by wide bays and from their triangular base soon narrow into almost filiform or mucronate teeth, a feature easily observed in fruiting calyces.
It is not quite certain that this mint is native in Malesia, though it is admittedly already recorded by BLUME. It is nowhere recorded as trulybelonging to native swamp vegetation. See also under M. x cordifolia below.
It is not quite certain that this mint is native in Malesia, though it is admittedly already recorded by BLUME. It is nowhere recorded as trulybelonging to native swamp vegetation. See also under M. x cordifolia below.
Citation
Bl. 1886: Rev. Pl. Vasc. Filip.: 213
KENG 1969: p. 111. – In: Gard. Bull. Sing.: f. 19
BURK. 1935: Dict.: 1454
BTH. 1848 – In: DC., Prod. 12: 173
Ridl. 1923 – In: Fl. Mal. Pen.: 655
Merr. 1923 – In: En. Philip.: 413
BACK. & BAKH.F. 1965 – In: Fl. Java: 631
Hook.f. 1973: Atlas: t. 534
Koord. 1912 – In: Exk. Fl. Java: 150
BRIQ. 1896 – In: E. & P., Nat. Pfl. Fam. 4: 319
PRAIN 1907 – In: J. As. Soc. Beng.: 710
Koord. 1918 – In: Fl. Tjibodas: 98
VIDAL 1885: Phan. Cuming. Philip.: 136
SPANOGHE 1841 – In: Linnaea: 332
BTH. 1833: Lab. Gen. Sp.: 183
OCHSE & BAKH. 1931: Ind. Groent: 353: f. 223, as M. arvensis
BACK. 1931: Onkr. Suiker.: 563
Merr. 1917: Int. Rumph.: 458
OCHSE & BAKH. 1931: Ind. Groent: 352: f. 223
HASSK. 1844: Cat. Hort. Bog.: 131