Family Album: Mint / Dead-Nettle

This is, along with the Daisy Family, another large family. The family includes a lot of members used as herbs, such as the Mints. Smells feature strongly in the Dead Nettle Family, ranging from sweet, pleasant, quite nice to positively disgusting.
The family includes the following sub-groups: Dead Nettles (Lamium), Hemp-Nettles (Galeopsis), Woundworts (Stachys), Calamints (Clinopodium), Thymes (Thymus), Horehounds, Claries (Salvia), Skullcaps (Scutellaria), Bugles (Ajuga), Germanders (Teucrium) and Mints (Mentha), alonmg with several others that seem to have a category all by themselves like, for instance, Ground Ivy (Glechoma).
Of the herbs, Marjoram, Wild Basil, Wild Thyme, Balm, Wood Sage, Apple Mint, Spearmint and Peppermint feature strongly.
Text on Family goes here

[TEUCRIUM] Germanders

Wood Sage. (Teucrium Scorodonia) Photo: © RWD

[STACHYS] Woundworts

Betony. (Stachys Officinalis) Photo: © RWD

Hedge Woundwort (Stachys Sylvatica) Photo: © RWD

Marsh Woundwort. (Stachys Palustris) Photo: © RWD

Lamb's-Ear (Stachys Byzantina) Photo: © RWD

[BALLOTA] Black Horehounds

Black Horehound. () Photo: © RWD

[LAMIUM] Dead-nettles

Henbit Dead Nettle. (Lamium Amplexicaule) Photo: © RWD

White Dead Nettle. (Lamium Album) Photo: © RWD

Red Dead-Nettle. (Lamium Purpureum) Photo: © RWD

[LAMIASTRUM] Yellow Archangel

Variegated Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum Galeobdolon) Photo: © RWD

[GALEOPSIS] Hemp-nettles

Large-Flowered Hemp-Nettle (Galeopsis Speciosa) Photo: © RWD

Bifid Hemp-Nettle (Galeopsis Bifida) Photo: © RWD

[MENTHA] Mints

MINT HYBRID CHART

MINT
HYBRIDS
BSBI maps
Water
Mint Corn
Mint Horse
Mint Penny
royal Corsica
Mint Spear
Mint Round Leaved
Mint

Water
Mint Whorled Mint Pepper
mint aquatica
×
suaveolens

Corn
Mint Whorled Mint Bushy Mint suaveolens
×
arvensis

Horse
Mint Sharp Toothed Mint False Apple-
Mint

Penny
royal

Corsica
Mint

Spear
Mint Pepper
mint Bushy Mint Sharp Toothed Mint Apple Mint

Round
Leaved
Mint aquatica
×
suaveolens suaveolens
×
arvensis False Apple-
Mint Apple Mint

Most of the Mints hybridize freely with one another. The above is a chart of all the known hybrids of the Mints with other Mints. A triple hybrid between Corn Mint, Water Mint and Spear Mint, called Tall Mint (M. aquatica × arvensis × spicata) would require a third dimension in order to show it on a cube-chart, so it is missing from this chequerboard chart. Unlike the Willowherb Hybrid Chart where there are no common names for the hybrids, here most of the hybrids of the mints have a common name.
There are no known hybrids of Pennyroyal nor of Corsica Mint.
The empty dark-blue squares show that there is plenty of opportunity for much more promiscuity between mints.
N.B. Due to the symmetrical nature of the chart, each hybrid appears twice.

Most mints have a characteristic smell of some specific terpene, which is present in the leaves and flowers of the plants, and released when crushed between the fingers.
Menthol is obtained from Corn Mint and is the main active ingredient of oil of peppermint whereas Carvone is the main odourous component of oil of spearmint present in Spear Mint.

Apple Mint. (Mentha × villosa) Photo: © RWD

Corn Mint. (Mentha Arvensis) Photo: © RWD

Spear Mint. (Mentha Spicata) Photo: © RWD

Water Mint. (Mentha Aquatica) Photo: © RWD

[THYMUS] Thymes

Wild Thyme. (Thymus Polytrichus) Photo: © RWD

[ORIGANUM] Wild Marjorum

Marjoram. (Origanum Vulgare) Photo: © RWD

[PRUNELLA] Self-heals

Self-heal. (Prunella Vulgaris) Photo: © RWD

[SCUTELLARIA] Skullcaps

Skullcap. (Scutellaria Galericulata) Photo: © RWD

[AJUGA] Bugles

Bugle. (Ajuga Reptans) Photo: © RWD

Pyramidal Bugle. (Ajuga Pyramidalis) Photo: © Jeremy Roberts

Glechoma

[GLECHOMA] Ground-Ivy

Ground Ivy (Glechoma Hederacea) Photo: © RWD

[LYCOPUS] Gypsywort

Gypsywort. (Lycopus Eurapaeus) Photo: © RWD

[PHLOMIS] Sages

Jerusalem Sage (Phlomis Fruticosa) Photo: © RWD

Turkish Sage (Phlomis Russeliana) Photo: © RWD

[CLINOPODIUM] Calamints

Wild Basil (Clinopodium Vulgare) Photo: © RWD

[SALVIA] Claries

Sage (Salvia Officinalis) Photo: © RWD

[MELISSA] Balm

Balm (Melissa Officinalis) Photo: © RWD

ANOTHER PICCY GOES HERE...

Family: Mint / Dead-Nettle [Labiatea / Lamiaceae]