Image: Wikimedia Commons (See link for license)
Mint family🌿
Lamiaceae
シソ科
A family rich in aromatic plants including perilla, mint, lavender, and basil. The most distinctive features are bilabiate (two-lipped) flowers and square stems. Approximately 240 genera and 7,000 species are known.
Key Characteristics
- ●Square stem cross-section
- ●Opposite leaves
- ●Bilabiate flowers (upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip 3-lobed)
- ●Fruit splits into 4 nutlets
- ●Many species contain essential oils
Morphological Traits
A family may include species with different trait values — multiple values indicate the range within the family.
Leaf arrangement
Opposite / Whorled
Leaf type
Simple / Compound
Venation
Pinnate / Palmate
Leaf margin
Serrate / Entire / Crenate
Growth form
Shrub / Tree / Vine / Herb
Evergreen/Deciduous
Deciduous
Compound type
Pinnate
Leaf dissection
Dissected / Undivided
Stipules
Absent
Aromatic
Aromatic / Foetid / None
Flower symmetry
Actinomorphic / Zygomorphic
Petal count
4 petals / 5 petals / 6 petals / Many
Petal fusion
Free / Fused
Ovary position
Superior
Stamen count
1-2 / 3-4 / 5
Plant sex
Dioecious / Hermaphrodite / Monoecious
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Eudicots > Lamiales > Lamiaceae
Divergence Era
Late Cretaceous to Paleogene
Representative Genera
Related Evolution Events
- ・Diverse evolution of essential oils and aromatic compounds
- ・Adaptation to specific insect pollinators via bilabiate flowers