Peppermint

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Peppermint is one of the plants of the family called labiates, in Latin the name of this plant will sound like this: Mentha piperita L. As for the name of the peppermint family itself, in Latin it will be like this: Lamiaceae Lindl.

Peppermint description

Peppermint is a herbaceous perennial bushy plant that is endowed with a very fragrant aroma. The rhizome of this plant is horizontal, it is painted in whitish tones, and in the spring period of time several stems will grow from such a rhizome. Peppermint stems are erect and tall, glabrous, branched and tetrahedral, and are covered with rather short hairs, colored in dark purple tones. The leaves of this plant are opposite, smooth and ovate-lanceolate, along the edges they will be sharp-serrated, from above such leaves are painted in dark green tones, and from below they will be lighter. Peppermint flowers are small, they will be in multi-flowered whorls, which in turn gather in spike-shaped inflorescences. Such flowers of this plant are colored in light purple tones. The fruit of this plant will be dry, it consists of only four reddish nuts.

Peppermint blooms during the period from July to August. It is noteworthy that this plant is known only in culture. Peppermint will be cultivated on the territory of Belarus, Central Asia, Ukraine, in the foothills of the Caucasus and in the Voronezh region.

Description of the medicinal properties of peppermint

Peppermint is endowed with very valuable healing properties, while it is recommended to use the leaves of this plant for medicinal purposes. The presence of such valuable medicinal properties should be explained by the content of the following biologically active substances in the composition of the leaves of this plant: the enzyme myrosin, troposolin glycoside, potassium sulfate, phytosterol, sugar, starch, ascorbic acid, sorbusin pigment, mucus, pectin and sulfur-containing essential oil. The essential oil will be found in the peppermint flowers, there is also a little of it in the leaves, and very little of it is observed in the stems. This oil is colorless, it is endowed with a yellowish tint, as well as a pleasant taste and smell. It should be noted that such peppermint oil will dissolve in alcohol. The oil will be the raw material for the extraction of menthol, due to which peppermint is widely used in perfumery and alcoholic beverages.

Menthol will be widely used for medicinal purposes. In combination with petroleum jelly and milk sugar, this menthol is a remedy for the common cold. For diarrhea, vomiting and rheumatism, menthol should be taken orally.

Peppermint and preparations based on it are endowed with sedative, antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory and choleretic effects, and also have properties to improve digestion. This plant is used for various liver diseases, hypertension, migraine, flatulence, insomnia, for cramps in the stomach and intestines, to improve appetite and improve cardiac activity.

Peppermint oil, about three to five drops on water or sugar, is recommended to be taken orally to reduce heartburn, as well as disinfect and more quickly pass gases. It is recommended to drink an infusion based on the leaves of this plant in small sips with nausea, fetid belching, cramps in the stomach and intestines, and also with heartburn. To prepare such an infusion, take two tablespoons of the leaves of this plant in half a liter of boiling water and then leave this mixture to insist in a thermos.