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Lamiaceae
Mint Family
By: June
Wilkensen
The
boundaries and definition of the Mint Family are in a state of flux, especially
with respect to the Verbenaceae. We have adhered to traditional views of these
two families, not out of taxonomic conviction, but to retain consistency with
standard horticultural references. Persons consulting current references are
likely to find definitions of these families differing from those in the present
reference.
As
circumscribed in BA1, a worldwide family of some 160 genera and 3000 species
well represented in Mediterranean and temperate regions. Herbs or shrubs
frequently having square stems, opposite or whorled leaves, and fragrant oils.
Flowers usually tightly congested into heads, axillary clusters, or spikes.
Corolla generally 2-lipped and strongly zygomorphic, the stamens in 2 pairs (or
only 2). Ovary superior, divided into 4 lobes, with the style inserted at the
bases of the lobes. (Resembling a saucer with four oranges on it, the style
being a soda straw inserted between the oranges and resting on the saucer.) A
much-cultivated family of annuals and perennials with showy flowers and/or
fragrant foliage; many culinary and medicinal herbs are in this family.
Key to
Important Lamiaceae Cultivated in South Florida (with data from BA1)
1. Leaves
linear or very narrowly elliptic, < 1” long, densely pubescent, native
species…False Pennyroyal (Piloblephis rigida)
1. Plants
otherwise…2
2. Flowers
orange…Lion’s Ear (Leonotis leonurus)
2. Flowers
not orange…3
3. Plants
dangling, vinelike…Swedish Ivy (Plectranthus parviflorus)
3. Plants
upright…4
4. Leaves
semisucculent (extremely pubescent, strongly scented, sometimes
variegated)…Cuban Oregano (Plectranthus amboinicus)
4. Leaves
not succulent…5
5. Leaves
multicolored and showy, often with shades of red and yellow; stamens joined to
each other around the base of the style…Solenostemon scutellarioides
(Coleus)
5. Leaves
green or green above and purple beneath…6
6. Plants
clumped, with the leaves green on top and purplish below (flowers in very showy
purple spikes)…Plectranthus ‘Mona Lavender’
6. Plants
otherwise…7
7. Flowers
white to lavender) with long protruding whiskery stamens…Cat’s Whiskers (Orthosiphon
aristatus)
7. Flowers
otherwise…8
8. Stamens
2 (or with 2 well developed stamens and 2 vestigial staminodes)…9
8. Stamens
4…15
9. Calyx
with 5 teeth (5 sepals)…Monarda punctata (and possibly additional
Monarda species)
9. Calyx
with 2 teeth (2 apparent sepals)…10
10. Leaves
linear with margins curled under…Rosemary (Rosmarinus sp.)
10. Leaves
usually broader than linear (but see Conradina), the margins not curled
under…(Salvia)…11
11.
Corollas blue…12
11.
Corollas lavender, pink, red, or white…13
12. Leaves
sessile; calyx green; wildflower not often seen in cultivation…Salvia
serotina
12.
Leaves petiolate; calyx blue; common bedding plant…Salvia farinacea
13. Corolla
lobes not spreading at the end of the long (usually red but sometimes purple or
white) tube; calyx the same color as the corolla; common annual…Salvia
splendens
13. Corolla
lobes diverging at the end of the tube; calyx usually green (but may match the
tube); perennials…14
14. Plants
fuzzy-pubescent; flowers purplish…Salvia leucantha
14. Plants
hairless or inconspicuously hairy…15
15. Flowers
scarlet…Salvia coccinea
15. Flowers
pink…Salvia greggii
16. Flowers
nearly radially symmetrical (pale lavender)…Spearmint (Mentha spicata)
16. Flowers
2-lipped…17
17. Calyx
teeth 5, long and slender (leaves often cordate, coarsely dentate)……Catnip (Nepeta
cataria)
17. Calyx
teeth 2, 3, or 5; variably shaped but not a combination of 5 and long and
slender…18
18. Calyx
teeth 2; flowers in spikes…Thymus broussenetii
18. Calyx
teeth > 2; flowers usually in verticels (false whorls) separated by internodes
(sometimes in spikes)…19
19. Plants
woody at the base; leaves finely twice-divided…Lavender (Lavandula
canariensis)
19. Plants
herbaceous; leaves variable but not compound…20
20. Stamens
curling out of the corolla in a C-shaped curve, this as long as the flower…Blue
Curls (Trichostemma dichotomum)
20. Stamens
otherwise…21
21. Leaf
blades white (from hairs) beneath (petiolate, sharply serrate)…Wood Sage (Teucrium
canadensis)
21. Leaf
blades not white beneath…22
22. Leaf
blades linear; mint in scrub habitat (flower strongly bilabiate with wide open
mouth, very showy, spotted)…Scrub Mint (Conradina grandiflora)
22. Leaf
blades ovate, lanceolate, or elliptic…23
23. Leaf
blades usually entire-margined or nearly so (or irregularly serrate); culinary
herb; flowers nearly sessile, if the clusters pedunculate the peduncles short
and inconspicuous; plants mostly glabrous or nearly so…Basil (Ocimum
basilicum)
23. Leaf
blades coarsely serrate; ornamental species; flowers in verticels of pedunculate
cymes; plants pubescent…Savory (Calamintha nepeta)
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