Nungshi-hedak

 

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae

Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Lamiaceae
Genus:	Mentha
Species:	M. arvensis
Binomial name
Mentha arvensis

Description

Wild mint is a herbaceous perennial plant generally growing to 10–60 cm (3.9–23.6 in) and rarely up to 100 cm (39 in) tall. It has a creeping rootstock from which grow erect or semi-sprawling squarish stems. The leaves are in opposite pairs, simple, 2–6.5 cm (0.79–2.56 in) long and 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) broad, hairy, and with a coarsely serrated margin. The flowers are pale purple (occasionally white or pink), in whorls on the stem at the bases of the leaves. Each flower is 3 to 4 mm (0.12 to 0.16 in) long and has a five-lobed hairy calyx, a four-lobed corolla with the uppermost lobe larger than the others and four stamens. The fruit is a two-chambered carpel.

Uses

Fresh juice of shoots is given with salt or honey in diarrhoea, colic and also used as anthelmintic. Power of leaves is used as tooth powder in gum complaints. Leaf-juice is used in irregular menstruation.

* Dried plant is antispasmodic, carminative, stomachic, refrigerant, stimulant and diuretic. Leaf-infusion is a remedy for rheumatism.