FIELD MINT

Picture of Wild Field Mint taken in the late summer near Albany, Oregon.

If you pick a plant with a distinctly square stalk and simple, opposite leaves, then it is very likely a member of the Mint family. Be sure to smell it too, since many species of the family are loaded with aromatic volatile oils.

The rich, spicy quality of these plants makes them useful in cooking, and nearly half the spices in your kitchen come from this one family, including basil, rosemary, lavender, marjoram, germander, thyme, savory, horehound, plus culinary sage (but not sagebrush!), and of course mint, peppermint, and spearmint.

For the beginning botanist, that is all you really need to remember: "square stalks with opposite leaves, and usually aromatic". Worldwide there are about 180 genera in the Mint Family representing some 3500 species. Approximately 50 genera are found in North America.

Medicinally this family is rich in volatile oils, especially menthol, often used as the penetrating vapors in cough drops. These spicy oils are stimulating and warming, causing the body to open up and sweat; so most of these plants are listed as diaphoretic in herbal books. This property can help you break a fever. A fever is the body's way of "cooking" the microorganisms that cause infections. Using a diaphoretic herb can help raise a mild fever just high enough to "cook" a virus, thus "breaking" or ending the fever. Volatile oils are also highly lethal to microorganisms. On camping trips I often use aromatic Mints to help purify questionable water. Eating a few Mint leaves after drinking from a creek certainly won't kill everything in the water, but it sure helps.