Spearmint

Mentha spicata

Lamiaceae

The sweeter garden mint — less menthol fire, more green candy. A children’s and after-dinner leaf.

Culinary mint. Gentler than peppermint for many stomachs.

Parts used: Leaf · Flowering tops
Traditional notes: Gas and quease · After-dinner tea · A milder mint when peppermint is too sharp
Grow · USDA 6b: Perennial, USDA 4–9 A rooted runner. Seed does not come true. In work: Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep
Harvest: Before full bloom, repeatedly.

Sink it in a pot or it will be the only herb you own.
Cut hard for a second sweet flush.
Dry thin; mint molds if you pile it.

Safety

GERD if even spearmint loosens the sphincter for you

Companions

Plant with Catnip, Lemon balm, Peppermint.

Lookalikes

Peppermint — Peppermint is a sterile hybrid; spearmint is the milder kitchen leaf. Sharing the word ‘mint’ is how a strong tea becomes a reflux night.

Lore

The gentler mint, the one in Moroccan tea and in American gum. Mentha spicata does not have peppermint’s reflux reputation to the same degree. A lawn of it is a decision.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.