The genus Mentha includes about 40 species, 15 hybrids and hundreds of cultivars of plants of this genus belonging to the Lamiaceae family.
Mentha genus is divided in:
- Audibertia
- Eriodontes
- Mentha
- Preslia
- Pulegium
Most are perennial sunplants and native to Europe, grown in the USA, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America.
Mint contain essential oils and is widely used as an aroma in drinks, foods and cigarettes.
From an economic point of view the most important species are:
- Mentha aquatica L.
- Mentha canadensis L.
- Mentha spicata L. (spearmint) and their hybrids ( Mentha - piperita L. peppermint)
The typical flavor of mint is due to menthol, an alcoholic terpene and carvone, a terpene ketone.
Mint leaves are used as tea against digestive disorders, headaches.
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Hart's pennyroyal or Water Spearmint (Mentha cervina L.) is a small plant which reaches the 30 cm of height, grows in the temperate climate zones, close to water streams, and belongs to the family of the Lamiaceae.
It was used in traditional medicine as a remedy for digestive disorders, fever and abortion.
Among its components are interesting monoterpenes (1) such as Eucalyptol (6.76%), Linalool (6.44%), but especially l-Menthone (6.99%) and p-Menthone (6.91%) used in cosmetics for their aromatic scent.
Among its components are interesting monoterpenes (1) such as Eucalyptol (6.76%), Linalool (6.44%), l-Menthone (6.99%) and p-Menthone (6.91%) used in cosmetics for their particular aroma that resembles menthol. But above all, it is present with 58.54% of the Pulegone that smells of mint, is widely used in cosmetics, occasionally included in food as a food additive and that has anti-inflammatory properties (2), but that can exercise hepatotoxicity at certain concentrations and with large inter-individual differences (3).
The lemon essential oil with a low content of pulegone has also been studied for its alternative antifungal activity in dermatophytosis, contagious infections caused by fungi (4).
Mentha cervina studies
References_____________________________________________
(1) Antimicrobial Efficiency of Essential Oils from Traditional Medicinal Plants of Asir Region, Saudi Arabia, over Drug Resistant Isolates. Helal IM, El-Bessoumy A, Al-Bataineh E, Joseph MRP, Rajagopalan P, Chandramoorthy HC, Ben Hadj Ahmed S. Biomed Res Int. 2019 Jan 17;2019:8928306. doi: 10.1155/2019/8928306.
(2) Pulegone inhibits inflammation via suppression of NLRP3 inflammasome and reducing cytokine production in mice. Yang Q, Luo J, Lv H, Wen T, Shi B, Liu X, Zeng N. Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol. 2019 Jun;41(3):420-427. doi: 10.1080/08923973.2019.1588292.
(3) Inter-Individual Variability in Acute Toxicity of R-Pulegone and R-Menthofuran in Human Liver Slices and Their Influence on miRNA Expression Changes in Comparison to Acetaminophen. Zárybnický T, Matoušková P, Lancošová B, Šubrt Z, Skálová L, Boušová I. Int J Mol Sci. 2018 Jun 19;19(6). pii: E1805. doi: 10.3390/ijms19061805.
(4) Composition and antifungal activity of the essential oil of Mentha cervina from Portugal. Gonçalves MJ, Vicente AM, Cavaleiro C, Salgueiro L. Nat Prod Res. 2007 Aug;21(10):867-71.
Mentha cervina 
Acetic acid
