Field mint.
Newsgroups: bionet.plants
Subject: Re: Weeds _ Mentha arvensis (field mint)
From: hrbmoore.rt66.com (Michael Moore)
Date: 29 Oct 1995 05:24:16 GMT
> Any information on field mint and/or its phenology would be greatly appreciated.
Jim Duke's database at http://www.ars-grin.gov/duke/plants.html (somewhere in that area) has and exhaustive (and exhausting) rundown on M. arvensis.
One of the reasons why the low and high levels are so variable (since the information is compiled from varying sources) is that some tests were made on DRY plant material, some on fresh plant material (with 90-92% water, but with some aromatics HIGHER when fresh, some LOWER when fresh, and some actually being "artifacts" of drying) and some tests were made using the essential oil...also variable since it may have been produced by condensation temperatures normally applied to Peppermint or Spearmint, there being no "standards" for M. arvensis, and the several methods of distillation ALL producing (or creating) different results.
Further, M. arvensis is an astoundingly variable taxon, with major morphologic variations and (obviously) major constituent variations in virtually every watershed in North America. Somewhere out there is a rumpled, bleary eyed and half-mad chemotaxonomist, trying to finish a doctorate on the chemical races of this plant...a plant even worse than Basil or Tansy to work with.
As an herbalist, my major concern is the balance between the "Pulegone" group and the "Menthol/Piperitone" group, since they have substantially varied physiologic effects. I do this very simply: I crush and smell the leaves in the lush center of a stand in full maturity (usually higher in the menthol group), and smell the leaves of peripheral, more solitary plants (usually with a great deal of lateral branching) that have the highest pulegone fractions. These peripheral plants are usally higher in carvone as well. If the peripheral are stronger in the carvone (Spearmint) scent than the pulegone (Pennyroyal) scent I gather them for tea. Conversely, being rather higher in rosmarinic acids than Melissa officinalis (Lemon Balm), I use those with the stronger Pennyroyal scent as a substitute for Melissa in European protocols for treating herpes simplex lesions.
If I HAD to wade through all the constituents (and all the damn variables), I might as well be an academic, and give up my generalist gadfly license!
Major aromatics
(ppm) low high (+)-OCTAN-3-ONE Leaf 9000 27000 (+)-PULEGONE Plant 25455 (-)-MENTHOL Leaf 66 25650 (-)-MENTHONE Leaf 250 25680 CARVONE Leaf 8100 26000 L-MENTHOL Plant 373 29515 MENTHOL Leaf 1000 24385 ROSMARINIC-ACID Plant 28000 MENTHONE Plant 71 24000 PULEGONE Plant 100 24960 MENTHOFURAN Plant 4200 12600 OCTAN-3-OL Leaf 0 10200 (-)-PIPERITONE Leaf 240 7700 PIPERITENONE-OXIDE Leaf 260 7320 (+)-ISOMENTHONE Leaf 240 7062 PIPERITONE-OXIDE Leaf 320 5135 L-MENTHYL-ACETATE Plant 85 4200
Misc.
(ppm) low high (+)-8-ACETOXY-CARVONE Essential Oil (+)-CARVONE Essential Oil (+)-MENTHOFURAN Leaf 32 (+)-NEOMENTHOL Leaf 20 580 (+)-PIPERITONE Leaf 90 290 (-)-CARVONE Essential Oil (-)-LIMONENE Leaf (-)-MENTHOL-ACETATE Leaf 10 32 1,8-CINEOLE Leaf 1-P-MENTHEN-3-ONE Plant 3',4',5,7-TETRAHYDROXY-FLAVONE-7-ALPHA-L-RHAMNOSYL-BETA-D-GLUCOSIDE Shoot 3',5,7-TRIHYDROXY-4'-METHOXY-FLAVONE-O-BETA-D-GLUCOSIDE Shoot 3-(5',5'-DIMETHYL-TETRAHYDROFURAN-2'-YL)-BUT-CIS-2-EN-1-OL Plant 1.4 3-METHYLPENTANOL Plant 4',5,7-TRIHYDROXY-FLAVONE-7-ALPHA-L-RHAMNOSYL-BETA-D-GLUCOSIDE Plant 4',5,7-TRIHYDROXY-FLAVONE-O-BETA-D-GLUCOSIDE Shoot ACACETIN-7-O-BETA-D-GLUCOSIDE Shoot ACETIC-ACID Plant ACETYLMENTHOL Plant ALPHA,BETA-HEXENIC-ACID Plant ALPHA,GAMMA-HEXENYL-PHENYL-ACETATE Plant ALPHA-PINENE Plant 10 300 ALPHA-THUJENE Plant ANISALDEHYDE Shoot BETA-CAR-3-ENE Essential Oil BETA-PHELLANDRENE Plant BETA-PINENE Plant 10 1445 CALCIUM Plant 13500 CAMPHENE Plant CAPROIC-ACID Plant CARVOMENTHONE Plant CARYOPHYLLENE Plant CHLOROPHYLL-A Tissue Culture CHLOROPHYLL-B Tissue Culture CINEOLE Leaf 40 1785 CIS-ISOPULEGONE Leaf CIS-OCIMENE Essential Oil COPPER Plant 20 D-3-OCTANOL Plant DIOSMETIN-7-O-BETA-D-GLUCOSIDE Shoot DL-ISOMENTHONE Plant ETHYL-AMYL-CARBINOL Plant EUGENOL Essential Oil FORMIC-ACID Plant FURFURAL Plant 2 5 GAMMA-TERPINENE Essential Oil GERMACRENE-D Essential Oil HESPERIDIN Plant IRON Plant 400 ISOMENTHOL Essential Oil ISOPULEGOL Essential Oil ISOPULEGONE Leaf 240 770 ISOVALERALDEHYDE Plant ISOVALERIC-ACID Plant 30 90 KETONES Plant 336 1008 LIMONENE Leaf 20 3520 LINALOOL Leaf LINALOOL-ACETATE Leaf 690 2215 LUTEOLIN Shoot MAGNESIUM Plant 2830 MANGANESE Plant 44 MENTHOFUROLACTONE Plant MENTHOL-ACETATE Leaf 60 2215 MENTHONONE Plant MYRCENE Leaf 10 2485 NEOISOMENTHOL Essential Oil NEOISOPULEGONE Essential Oil P-CYMENE Leaf 9 29 P-CYMOL Leaf 562 1800 P-MENTHAN-TRANS-2,5-DIOL Plant PIPERITENONE Plant PIPERITONE Leaf 13 1285 PIPERITONE-OXIDE Plant POTASSIUM Plant 35100 RAFFINOSE Plant RESIN Plant ROSMARINIC-ACID Leaf 71 228 SABINENE-HYDRATE Leaf 30 160 SANTENE Plant SODIUM Plant 860 STACHYOSE Plant TANNIN Plant THUJONE Plant TRANS-ISOPULEGONE Leaf TRANS-OCIMENE Essential Oil ZINC Plant
(pant, pant)
The tea gathered from the first type of locality is perhaps the single most delicious mint tea I have ever encountered...and rivals M. citrata as the best tasting mint for Mint Juleps.
