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Mentha ×gracilis
Also called Bushy Mint, Red Mint, Scotch Mint, Cardiac Mint, Ginger Mint, Scotch Spearmint, Scottish Mint
Gingermint is a sterile hybrid mint (Mentha × gracilis) grown mainly for its essential oil, used to flavour spearmint gum and candy. It is grown as a herb or ground cover rather than as a houseplant, and it spreads vigorously by runners.
Mentha × gracilis (syn. Mentha × gentilis L.; syn. Mentha cardiaca (S.F. Gray) Bak.) is a hybrid mint species within the genus Mentha, a sterile hybrid between Mentha arvensis (cornmint) and Mentha spicata (native spearmint). It is cultivated for its essential oil, used to flavour spearmint chewing gum. It is known by the common names of gingermint, redmint and Scotchmint in Europe, and as Scotch spearmint in North America.
As a sterile hybrid gingermint does not set seed; it is instead propagated by plant cuttings from the runners of healthy mints. It is most commonly cultivated for steam distillation of its essential oil. Production is concentrated in North America north of the 41st parallel; below the 40th parallel north summer day lengths are insufficiently long to produce quality essential oil. In the Pacific northwest Scotch spearmint oil, along with native spearmint oil, is protected by a marketing board for farmers. In 2000, 89.4 tonnes of spearmint oil were produced in the US Midwest, 420.9 tonnes in the Pacific northwest, and 167.9 tonnes in Canada. An additional 10 tonnes were produced in India and limited quantities were produced in France and Argentina.
Since the smell of ginger mint wards off rats and mice, it is placed in granaries to keep pests away from the grain. In North America, Scotch spearmint essential oil is used in flavouring chewing gum and candies. It is used as the traditional flavouring of Scotch mint candies. In Vietnamese cuisine the fresh herb is used as a flavouring in chicken or beef pho. As a medicinal herb it is used to treat fevers, headaches, and digestive ailments.
Mentha alaica · Water mint · Wild mint · Mentha longifolia var. asiatica · Mentha atrolilacina · Australian Mint · American Corn Mint · Carinthian Mint · Water Spearmint · Eau de Cologne mint · Hioi · Dahurian Thyme
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Mentha × gracilis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
