Lamiaceae (lay-mee-AY-see-ee)
Iconic Features
- Stems usually square
- Leaves simple and generally opposite
- Leaves usually strongly scented
- Flower a two-lipped tube
Description (Jepson)
- Eudicotyledons (eudicots) – a major lineage of flowering plants including most plants traditionally described as dicots and generally characterized by
- 2 seed leaves (dicotyledon)
- Netted (reticulate) leaf venation
- Flower parts in fours and fives
- Pollen grains with 3 pores (tricolpate)
- Vascular bundles in stem arranged in a ring
- Taproot system
- Annuals, herbaceous perennials, and shrubs
- Stems usually 4-sided (square in cross-section), though not all square-stemmed plants are mints
- Bee plant (Scrophularia californica), in the Figwort family, has square stems
- Leaves
- Generally simple (not divided into leaflets), though can be deeply lobed
- Generally opposite (2 leaves at each junction with stem) and decussate (alternate pairs perpendicular to each other)
- Usually with glands that produce a strong scent
- Flowers
- Inflorescence (flower arrangement) in dense heads or whorled (3 or more leaves/flowers at stem junction) at distinct intervals along the stem, like a fancy-trimmed poodle tail
- Tubular flowers are usually bilaterally symmetrical and 2-lipped with 2 fused upper petals and 3 fused lower petals
- Ovary superior (above the attachment of other flower parts)
- Usually 4 stamens, which are exerted (extending beyond petals), with 1 pair longer than the other
- Fruit a set of 4 single-seeded nutlets (a small, dry fruit that does not split open, derived from a multi-chambered ovary); not all may mature
Notes
- Approximately 7,200 species worldwide
- Includes yerba buena, hedge nettles, and pitcher sage
- Also includes many cultivated herbs with culinary and medicinal uses, e.g. chia, lavender, basil, oregano, peppermint, rosemary, and thyme
- Scientific name from the included genus Lamium, from the Latin for “mint”
- Represented by 12 species at Edgewood
Browse Some Edgewood Plants in this Family
