Mint is nature's refreshing, heat-relieving wonder of summer

Mint, known by the folk name "yindancao" (silver dan grass), is a plant of the Lamiaceae family, namely the dried whole herb of the same genus and related species. It mostly grows in mountain wilds, wet meadows and along rivers, with rhizomes creeping underground, mostly at an altitude of 2100 m, but it can also grow at 3500 m; it is an aromatic crop of special economic value. The whole plant has a fresh, fragrant green scent. The leaves are opposite, the flowers small and pale purple, labiate, and after flowering it sets small dark purple-brown seeds. It is a perennial herb. The stem is erect, 30-60 cm tall, with several lower nodes bearing fine fibrous roots and horizontal creeping rhizomes, sharply four-angled with four grooves, the upper part covered with reversed appressed pubescence, the lower part pubescent only along the angles, and much branched.

Mint

The leaf blades are oblong-lanceolate, lanceolate, elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, rarely oblong, 3-5 (7) cm long and 0.8-3 cm wide, apex acute, base cuneate to suborbicular, margins above the base remotely coarsely toothed-serrate, with about 5-6 pairs of lateral veins, slightly sunken above and prominent below, green above; densely pubescent along the veins and sparsely pubescent elsewhere, or nearly hairless except for the veins, pale green above, usually densely pubescent along the veins; petiole 2-10 mm long, concave above and convex beneath, pubescent.

The verticillasters are axillary, spherical in outline, about 18 mm across at flowering, stalked or stalkless, with the stalk up to 3 mm long when present, pubescent; the pedicels are slender, 2.5 mm long, pubescent or nearly hairless. The calyx is tubular-campanulate, about 2.5 mm long, pubescent and glandular-dotted outside, hairless inside, with 10 indistinct veins, and 5 calyx teeth that are narrowly triangular-subulate with a long acute apex, 1 mm long. The corolla is pale purple, 4 mm long, slightly pubescent outside, pubescent inside below the throat, with a 4-lobed limb: the upper lobe is 2-lobed at the apex and larger, the other 3 lobes are nearly equal in size, oblong, with obtuse apices. There are 4 stamens, the front pair longer, about 5 mm long, all exserted beyond the corolla, with filiform, hairless filaments and ovate, 2-locular anthers with parallel locules. The style slightly exceeds the stamens, with a nearly equal 2-cleft apex, the lobes subulate. The disc is flat-topped. The nutlets are ovoid, yellowish brown, with small glandular pits. The flowering period is July-September, and the fruiting period is October.

Mint

Culinary value:

Mint has both medicinal and culinary functions; the main edible parts are the stems and leaves, and it can also be eaten as pressed juice. In cooking, mint can be used as a seasoning, as a spice, and also in alcoholic drinks, tea and more. Every 100 g of dried mint contains 9.6 g of water, 6.8 g of protein and 31.1 g of fiber, and provides 870.7 kJ of energy.

Medicinal value:

Mint is a commonly used traditional Chinese medicine; the young stem tips can be eaten as a vegetable, and the whole herb can be used medicinally to treat cold, fever, sore throat, headache, red and painful eyes, muscle pain, itchy wind-rash on the skin, and incompletely erupted measles, among other conditions. It is also effective against carbuncles, deep-rooted boils, scabies, ringworm and lacquer dermatitis.

Mint contains menthol, a substance that freshens the breath and has various medicinal properties; it can relieve abdominal pain and gallbladder problems such as spasms, and also has antiseptic, bactericidal, diuretic, phlegm-resolving, stomach-strengthening and digestion-promoting effects. Eating large amounts of mint can cause insomnia, but eating it in small doses helps with sleep.

Mint

Precautions:

1. People with yin deficiency and blood dryness, hyperactivity of liver yang, or excessive sweating due to exterior deficiency should avoid taking mint leaves.

2. Women during pregnancy should avoid using it. Also, because mint has the effect of inhibiting milk secretion, nursing women should not use much of it either; and because mint is aromatic, pungent and dispersing, patients with cough due to lung deficiency or fever and excessive sweating due to yin deficiency should also use it with caution. In addition, the components of mint easily volatilize and lose effectiveness when heated, so it is best added after the water has come to a rolling boil. And because it has a mind-clearing, stimulating effect, it should not be drunk in large amounts at night, so as to avoid sleep problems.

Plant culture:

Pluto Hades fell in love with the beautiful nymph Minthe, which aroused the jealousy of Persephone, the wife of Hades. To make Hades forget Minthe, Persephone turned her into an inconspicuous little plant growing by the roadside for people to trample. But after Minthe, strong and kind at heart, became a little plant, she nevertheless carried a comfortable, cool and charming fragrance, and the more she was broken and trampled, the stronger it became. Although she had become a little plant, she was loved by more and more people. People called this plant mint.

Mint is a plant full of hope. Life inevitably brings many missed people or things, and the chance to meet again, grow close and love again is almost nonexistent, yet the less there is, the more one longs for it. Although mint is an ordinary flower, its flavor is refreshing to the heart, with a coolness that seeps through every pore into the skin, so that every cell in the body feels clear and open; that is a very happy feeling, and it gives a bit of comfort to those who have once lost something. Therefore, the flower language of mint is "may I meet you again" and "love me once more." In addition, it also has the flower language of "a person of virtue."