Mentha spicata

 

Mentha spicata

 

Ssp condensata: Kıvırcık nane; Ssp spicata: Eşek nanesi
 
 
Extremely variable, glabrous to coarsely grey-villous perennial with musty, pungent or sweet odour. Rhizomes usually hypogeal, Flowering stems 30-100 cm. Leaves 30-75 x 8-25 mm, sessile or rarely shortly petiolate, oblong-ovate to lanceolate, usually widest below the middle, apex obtuse or acute, base rounded to cordate, margin serrate. Lamina smooth or rugose, glabrous to coarsely grey-villous. Hairs, when present on leaf under-surface, simple or branched , basal cell 35-49 mcm diam. Verticillasters many, forming a terminal spike 40-110 x 812 mm, usually interrupted at least below and often unbranched. Corolla white, pink or lilac. Nutlets chestnut to dark brown, reticulate in hairy plants, smooth in glabrous plants.
1. Plant glabrous or hairy, cauline leaves 35-75 mm long and usually over 12 mm broad, with flat margin and chiefly simple hairs beneath; spike 40-80 mm, interrupted below .............subsp. spicata
1. Plant always hairy, leaves 30-38 mm long and usually under 12 mm broad, often with undulate margins and with numerous branched hairs beneath; spike 70-110 mm, usually much interrupted especially in fruit ......subsp. tomentosa