Appearance
Water mint is a herbaceous rhizomatous perennial plant growing to 90 centimetres tall. The stems are square in cross section, green or purple, and variably hairy to almost hairless. The rhizomes are wide-spreading, fleshy, and bear fibrous roots. The leaves are ovate to ovate-lanceolate, 2 to 6 centimetres long and 1 to 4 centimetres broad, green, opposite, toothed, and vary from hairy to nearly hairless. The flowers of the watermint are tiny, densely crowded, purple, tubular, pinkish to lilac in colour and form a terminal hemispherical inflorescence; flowering is from mid to late summer. Water mint is visited by many types of insects, and can be characterized by a generalized pollination syndrome, but can also spread by underground rhizomes. All parts of the plant have a distinctly minty smell. A variety known as "Mentha aquatica var. litoralis" is native to areas of Sweden and Finland near the Baltic Sea. It is unbranched, hairless, with narrower leaves and paler flowers.
Distribution
Water mint is native to much of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. It has been introduced to North and South America, Australia and some Atlantic islands.As the name suggests, water mint occurs in the shallow margins and channels of streams, rivers, pools, dikes, ditches, canals, wet meadows, marshes and fens. If the plant grows in the water itself, it rises above the surface of the water. It generally occurs on mildly acidic to calcareous mineral or peaty soils. "M. aquatica" can occur in certain fen-meadow habitats such as the Juncus subnodulosus-Cirsium palustre plant association. It is a component of Purple moor grass and rush pastures - a type of Biodiversity ActPlan habitat in the UK.
It hybridises with "Mentha spicata" to produce "Mentha × piperita", a sterile hybrid; with "Mentha suaveolens" to produce "Mentha × suavis"; with "Mentha arvensis" to produce "Mentha × verticillata"; and with both "M. arvensis" and "M. spicata" to give the tri-species hybrid "Mentha × smithiana". It can be used to make a herbal tea.
Habitat
Water mint is native to much of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. It has been introduced to North and South America, Australia and some Atlantic islands.As the name suggests, water mint occurs in the shallow margins and channels of streams, rivers, pools, dikes, ditches, canals, wet meadows, marshes and fens. If the plant grows in the water itself, it rises above the surface of the water. It generally occurs on mildly acidic to calcareous mineral or peaty soils. "M. aquatica" can occur in certain fen-meadow habitats such as the Juncus subnodulosus-Cirsium palustre plant association. It is a component of Purple moor grass and rush pastures - a type of Biodiversity ActPlan habitat in the UK.
It hybridises with "Mentha spicata" to produce "Mentha × piperita", a sterile hybrid; with "Mentha suaveolens" to produce "Mentha × suavis"; with "Mentha arvensis" to produce "Mentha × verticillata"; and with both "M. arvensis" and "M. spicata" to give the tri-species hybrid "Mentha × smithiana". It can be used to make a herbal tea.
Uses
"Mentha aquatica" is used in traditional South African medicine for the treatment of depression and age-related illnesses. Naringenin, an active substance isolated from the plant, has been shown to be an MAO inhibitor with affinity to the GABAA.References:
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