Nomenclature

Species name:

Calamintha nepeta   (L.) Savi

Author(s):

Carl von Linné
   Sweden, 1707-1778

Gaetano Savi
   Italy, 1769-1844

General names:

Lesser Calamint

Maltese name:

Kalaminta

Plant Family:

Lamiaceae / Labiatae   (Mint Family)

Name Derivation:

Calamintha = 'Kalos'-'mintha' directly meaning - Beautiful mint (Greek);

nepeta = Possibly Ground-Ivy of Nepete, named for an Etruscan town which the plant was found in. (Latin).

Synonyms:

Satureja calamintha, Melissa nepeta, M.calamintha, Calamintha glandulosa, C. rouyana, C. macra, Micromeria subnuda

Remarks:

There are two subspecies of this plant - C. nepeta subsp. nepeta and C. nepeta subsp. glandulosa, as well as the hybrid between these two. Only subspecies glandulosa is found in Malta.

Plant Description

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Habitat:

Valleys

Sources in Malta:

Infrequent, found for example in Wied Xlendi (Gozo) and Wied Incita.

Plant Height:

30-75cm

Flowering Time:

May - Oct

A perennial, robust, strongly aromatic herb having pubescent gray hair. The main stem has a square cross section, a woody base and produces several side-branches.

The broad, oval-shaped leaves are quite small - measuring about 15-18mm long and 8-10mm wide with a quite prominent pinnate venation. The outline is not perfectly entire and can be described as shallow crenate. Their colour is vivid green and give off a pleasant peppermint smell.

The leaves in vegetative branches are opposite and decussate. The leaves at the upper flowering part of the stems are found in perpendicular pairs, together with a pair of flower cymes (also perpendicular to each other) opposite to the leaves, hence producing an 'X'-shaped arrangement with the leaf pair at one side, and the pair of flower bunches at the other side. Leaves have a short (2-3mm long) petiole and flower cymes have a similar sized peduncle.

The flower is composed of a vase-like tubular calyx and a lilac to violet corolla. The calyx (about 4-6mm long) is further decorated by longitudinal pale-green stripes and a set of triangular teeth (1-2mm long) arranged actinomorphically at the calyx-rim.

The corolla has 5 lilac perianth lobes, 3 being at the lower half and the other above are more fused together forming a singular, hood-like structure. The lower, central lobe (=lip) is further decorated by random dark violet spots or patches. The lobes are separated free more or less half way the length of the corolla tube. White hairs are present at the mouth of the flower.

4 stamens are found just under the upper perianth lobes. They have pale violet anthers. The style and stigma protrudes out from the flower mouth and found somewhere between the 4 stamens. Style is longer from the stamens by few millimetres.

After fertilisation, the corolla drops off and the seeds are developed at the base of the calyx, hence serving as a supportive container for seeds to mature in. Seeds are black and very small and drops off from the calyx opening without any special means of mechanical dispersion.

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