The genus Mentha includes four species of value in India. The Indian species are: Mentha arvensis Linn., the famous Pudīnā; M. viridis Linn., spearmint or pahāḍī Pudīnā; M. piperita Linn., the peppermint and M. sylvestris Linn., or wild mint . They are all strongly scented perennial herbs with a creeping rootstock.
The genus Mentha is medicinally a tonic, stomachic (good for stomach troubles), carminative, emmenagogue i.e. promoting menstrual flow, sudorific, i.e. provoking sweat formation, anti-spasmodic and destroys worms.
We shall now discuss these four plants beginning from the most well-known.
1.Mentha arvensis
Names
There is no name in Sanskrit for this plant. In English it is mint, marsh mint. It is called pudina in Marathi, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Persian; podina in Bengali and bhudina in Burmese. This name is therefore the commonest name of the plant though it is not clear from which language it comes originally.
Botany
It has a scented, much branched stem growing along the ground and rooting at many places. Vegetative propagation is therefore quite easy, small rooted segments of the stems being the usual mode of producing new plants. The stem is densely covered with many short hairs. The leaves are ovate, toothed and rather fleshy. The flowers are lilac or light purple in colour and arranged only in auxiliary distant whorls. The calyx is bell-shaped with triangular short teeth equal in breadth and length without hairs at the throat. The corolla is lined with hairs. The seeds are dry and smooth.
This is a common garden plant cultivated throughout India and China. It is a native of the Northern and Western Himalayas and Kashmir where it grows wild. It is believed to have been brought to India by the Arabs as a medicinal plant because it is not mentioned at all in the ancient Āyurvedic texts.
Chemical constituents
Mint contains a valuable substance stearoptin, known more familiarly as menthol or peppermint. Camphor can be prepared by keeping the oil from the distillate of the plant for some time. The oil from this very common herb compares very well with the oil from Mentha piperita (which is the official and the costly mint oil of international commerce) in taste, odour and physical characteristics. The usual amount of oil obtained from whole dried plants from Kashmir is 0.18-0.2 per cent. Extracts from fresh leaves give a better yield. It has also been seen that if the leaves are collected during the budding and flowering stages, the yield of the oil is much higher than obtained otherwise.
General actions
Āyurveda regards Pudīnā as bitter in taste, hot in virility and digestive. It is utilised in overcoming the aggravations of vāyu and kapha, vomiting, pains in the stomach as well as belching. It also destroys worms in the intestines.
Modern medicine considers it to be a stimulant. It promotes menstruation, is excitatory and useful for warding off convulsive reactions. It is advised for indigestion, shooting pains of the stomach, flatulence (bloating of the belly due to gas) and vomiting.
Traditional uses
This is a favourite herb of the kitchen for seasoning many dishes. It is an expectorant, an emmenagogue (promoting menstrual flow), a renal tonic, and is also regarded by the Yūnānī physicians as being useful in diseases of the liver and the spleen, asthma and joint pains. The dried plant is cooling, good for the stomach, a stimulant and provokes profuse urination. It is also antispasmodic. It is beneficially used in jaundice as well as to stop vomiting.
An essential oil is obtained by steam distillation of the leaves, flowering tops and stems. This is similar to peppermint oil.
Pudīnā is praised in India for its aromatic, carminative, stimulant and stomachic properties. A decoction or vapour of its tea is largely used with lemongrass (Citronella) as a curative for fevers. It is also beneficially against hiccups. The oil and menthol have similar properties. Menthol is an invaluable anti-neuralgic (i.e. reliever of nervous pain) and is applied externally in the form of an alcoholic solution.
Pudīnā is given predominantly for patients of digestive upsets, weak stomach, feeble digestive ability, shooting pains in the stomach and constipation. Its distillation (arka) or decoction is given as a drink to control vomiting and the disorders of tumours. Drinking its fresh juice or using the latter as an enema will destroy intestinal worms. It can also be used as a nasal or eardrop to destroy the germs there. It is also a very powerful drug for promoting menstrual flow. Placing a swab of it in the vagina could therefore cause an abortion.
This is good for coughs and breathing difficulties, as it thins down the phlegm and aids its expulsion.
As it promotes sweat it is believed to be beneficial for jaundice with the vitiation getting expelled.
Applied with liquor or vinegar, it removes blemishes of the skin like black spots, and restores a healthy colour.
Applied over the stings of wasps and scorpions, it removes the poison and mitigates the pain.
In fever after child birth, fresh juice of Pudīnā is given daily in a dose of 1-2 tolas with beneficial results.
Administration of its freshly extracted juice proves highly effective and beneficial in cases of phlegmatic fever, dysentery, urinary stones and nervous disorders.
Some commercial aspects
A number of Mentha species are native and grow wild in the Himalayan regions. A few exotic species from other countries have also been introduced recently and are growing well on a commercial scale. A Japanese peppermint has been introduced recently as a promising new addition. This is botanically known as M. canadensis var. piperascens.
The oil of M. arvensis has a good demand in Indian markets because of its principal use as a flavouring herb. However, it is unfortunate to note that no attempt has been made for production of its oil in India. We consume only the imported stuff.
Peppermint oil of commerce is derived from two plant sources:
i) European oils; which are from M. piperita var. vulgaris, i.e. the black mint and M. piperita var. officinalis the white mint.
ii) Japanese oil, which is from M. canadensis var. piperascens.
The English peppermint oil is from the former species grown in England and is unique, admittedly superior to any other kind and consequently the costliest.
Both Japan and the United States of America derive a large profit from the sale of peppermint oil. Many other countries like France, England, Italy and Germany also possess flourishing industries in mint oil.
There is simply no reason why India should not be able to grow its own oils. We have abundant natural resources of this herb in our country. We have many varieties that are growing wild in our diverse soils. We can and have also grown many exotic plants successfully in our fields and gardens. Cultivation of mint in suitable localities and also its distillation into oil are both highly remunerative and are worthy of serious consideration by our industrial entrepreneurs.
2. Mentha viridis, Linn.
Names
Its names in English are garden mint, mackerel mint, spearmint. In Hindi and Punjabi it is called pahāḍī pudīnā (the hill pudīnā).
Botany
This is a perennial herb with a pungent smell. Aerial portions form leaf stolons i.e. segments of stems that root all along, and serve for quick vegetative propagation. The leaves are smooth, like the rest of the plant and without any stalk, lanceolate in shape; tip, acute; margin, coarsely dentate, i.e. cut into teeth-like edges, smooth above and glandular below. The flowers are light purple in colour and arranged in loose cylindrical, slender spikes which are broken at intervals with distant whorls. The throat of the calyx is naked. The corolla is smooth.
The plant looks like a cultivated form of Mentha sylvestris, the true mint of the hills. This plant is very commonly cultivated in gardens all over India.
Cures with pahāḍī Pudīnā
The plant distillate is effective in relieving hiccups, flatulence, and giddiness due to indigestion.
The leaves are helpful in fever and bronchitis and their decoction is used as lotion in apthae or sores of the mouth.
The seeds are mucilaginous.
An infusion of the leaves and stem tops or a watery preparation made from the oil (1 in 500 water) is used as a carminative, stomachic and stimulant. This is also effective in hiccups, bilious vomiting, flatulence, colicky pains, and also cholera.
The leaves of spearmint, dry dates, black pepper, rock salt, resin and cumin are all taken in equal parts and ground together to form a chutney, with lime juice. This is an excellent electuary (a lehya or lickable paste) for removing the bad taste that follows fevers.
In case of colic, mint juice is given with a little black pepper powder and honey.
Mint juice mixed with honey also relieves pain in the ears.
When applied to the temples it relieves headache.
It soothes and heals bruises, injuries and sores when applied locally.
Oil of spearmint is a local anaesthetic and is used to soothe neuralgic pains as in herpes zoster.
The oil is also a powerful antiseptic. It relieves toothache when applied to the hollow of the decaying tooth. Its odour is reputed to be a good mosquito repellent.
3. Mentha piperita, Linn.
Names
It is called Brandymint or Peppermint in English and is also a source of peppermint oil. Though the plant is well cultivated in Indian gardens, no regional Indian language seems to have a name for it. In China it is called po ho. In Hindi it is sometimes known as paparaminta.
Botany
This is a smooth, hairless, perennial and strong scented herb. Its leaves have stalks; they are acute or obtuse at the base; margin is coarsely serrate, surface is smooth above, rarely and sparsely hairy on the nerves below; their shape is ovate or lanceolate. The upper leaves are small and look like bracts subtending the flowers. The flowers are clustered as whorls on cylindrical spikes. The calyx is often red. The plant seems to be a cross between M. viridis,Linn. and M. aquatica, Linn.
Chemical constituents
Peppermint oil is obtained by distillation of this plant. It is a colourless, viscid liquid that becomes brown on exposure. It has a peculiar pungent camphor like odour. It contains chiefly a crystalline stearoptin, menthol or mint camphor (obtained by cooling the oil), a liquid – terrapin, glacial acetic acid and carbon bisulphide.
This volatile sweet scented oil is well-known in medicine for its antiseptic, stimulative and carminative properties. It is used for mitigating nausea, flatulence, sickness and vomiting. The oil is used in the pharmaceutical industry to mask the taste of evil smelling and unpleasant drugs and as a flavouring material in confections and dentifrices.
Medicinal properties and use
The fresh leaves, crushed and applied externally relieve local pains and headache.
A hot infusion of the leaves taken as tea soothes stomach aches and diarrhoea. It relieves dysmenorrhoea.
Leaves and their oil are aromatic, stimulant, carminative and antispasmodic.
The leaves can also be used as an infusion (1 in 10 parts) or their oil or tincture employed in a dose of 5-20 minims or aqua in 1/2 to 2 ounces in cases of vomiting (especially during pregnancy), colicky pains in the stomach, cholera, diarrhoea and flatulence. This is also helpful in dysmenorrhoea, hiccups and palpitations. Another use is to give it along with purgatives for preventing colicky pains that usually accompany purgatives. Locally applied, this is a powerful anodyne (pain reliever), anaesthetic, antiseptic and germicidal. It is useful in herpes zoster and pruritis. In pthisis or consumption it is used as an antiseptic inhalation and in dip theria as a curative paint.
It also relieves toothache due to caries.
The essence of this Pudīnā alleviates ulcerous pains. It is anaesthetising and removes vitiations of the skin. It is employed for overcoming flatulence, sickness and vomiting. As it is a stimulant and an alimentary regulator, it is given in cases of indigestion, malabsorption and shooting pains of the stomach. The oil is good for massaging in any case of nervous pain.
4. Mentha sylvestris, Linn.
Names
This plant has a few names in Sanskrit, ajirnahara (removing indigestion), Pudīnā rocani (pleasant), rucisya (taste inducing), saka sobhana (an excellent vegetable), sugandhi patra (scented leaves), vantihara (removing vomiting), vyanjana (a culinary condiment).
In English, it is known as horse mint.
Botany
This plant is a strongly scented, erect or diffuse herb having a creeping rootstock by which vegetative propagation is easily accomplished. The leaves are nearly stalkless, lanceolate, oblong or ovate; the tip acute; the margin sharply toothed; upper surface is hoary-pubescent; lower surface white and tomentose. The flowers are small, light purple in colour and arranged in large whorls that are crowded on auxiliary and terminal, cylindrical, tapering spikes. The calyx is hairy, bell-shaped and acutely five toothed. The corolla tube is small enough to be included within the calyx.
This plant is scattered in the western Himalayas and more prevalent in Europe than Asia.
Medicinal properties
The following medicinal actions are attributed to Mentha sylvestris: it digests all collected and dense vitiations, dissolves oedemas or swellings, thinning down the vitiation, dissipating any colouring of the skin, controlling pain, promoting urination and menstruation, provoking sweat formation, regulating alimentary functioning by being mildly laxative, destroying germs and is stimulative. TheChinese employan infusion of its leaves and stems as a carminative, sudorific and antispasmodic. In Annam in Myanmar, the plant is regarded as an excellent diaphoretic and is therefore given for fevers, indigestion and pains in the head. The leaf juice is applied to stings or bites of poisonous animals.
Āyurveda regards the plant as heavy, tasty, cardiotonic, healing, a destroyer of vaata and an astringent (constipative to the bowels) and anthelmintic. It is seen to be useful against heart disease, bronchitis, loss of appetite, diarrhoea and dysentery.
The plant is famous mainly in the Yūnānī system which distinguishes two types in this pudīnā:
(1) fudanajhabak type. The plant is dry and hot: diuretic and diaphoretic, i.e. causing sweating and strengthening the kidney. The seeds have a bitter, sharp taste and are useful for diseases of the blood, liver and spleen. It decreases burning sensations, vomiting tendencies and flatulence. It is good for sore eyes, scabies and strengthens the teeth.
(2) fudanjnana type. This plant also is hot and dry. It is diuretic, diaphoretic and strengthens the kidney. The seeds are bitter and sharp in taste. It is alexiteric and anthelmintic and is useful for the following diseases: mental illness, deafness, throat troubles, leucoderma, vomiting, hiccups, skin eruptions, dropsy and dyspepsia.
The leaves are soaked in water given as an infusion which is drunk as a cooling, soothing drug. In Europe, the herb finds use as a carminative and a stimulant.
Dr. K.H.Krishnamurthy has written about medicinal plants as used in the Indian context with deep interest. He is a botanist by profession and poet by sentiment.
