Spearmint, also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is a species of mint, Mentha spicata (, native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is naturalized in many other temperate parts of the world, including northern and southern Africa, North America, and South America. It is used as a flavouring in food and herbal teas. The aromatic oil, called oil of spearmint, is also used as a flavoring and sometimes as a scent. The species and its subspecies have many synonyms, including Mentha crispa, Mentha crispata, and Mentha viridis. Description Spearmint is a perennial herbaceous plant. It is tall, with variably hairless to hairy stems and foliage, and a wide-spreading fleshy underground rhizome from which it grows. The leaves are long and broad, with a serrated margin. The stem is square-shaped, a defining characteristic of the mint family of herbs. Spearmint produces flowers in slender spikes, each flower pink or white in colour, long and broad. Spearmint flowers in the summer (from July to September in the northern hemisphere), and has relatively large seeds, which measure . The name ''spear'' mint derives from the pointed leaf tips. Mentha spicata varies considerably in leaf blade dimensions, the prominence of leaf veins, and pubescence. Taxonomy Mentha spicata was first described scientifically by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The epithet spicata means 'bearing a spike'. The species has two accepted subspecies, each of which has acquired a large number of synonyms: Mentha spicata subsp. condensata (Briq.) Greuter & Burdet – eastern Mediterranean, from Italy to Egypt Mentha spicata subsp. spicata – distribution as for the species as a whole Origin and hybrids The plant is a allopolyploid species (2n = 48), which could be a result of hybridization and chromosome doubling. Mentha longifolia and Mentha suaveolens (2n = 24) are likely to be the contributing diploid species. Mentha spicata hybridizes with other Mentha species, forming hybrids such as: Mentha × piperita (hybrid with Mentha aquatica), black peppermint, hairy peppermint Mentha × gracilis (hybrid with Mentha arvensis), Scotch spearmint Mentha × villosa (hybrid with Mentha suaveolens) There are other cultivars: Mentha spicata 'strawberry' - with a distinct strawberry odor. History and domestication Mention of spearmint dates back to at least the 1st century AD, with references from naturalist Pliny and mentions in the Bible. Further records show descriptions