Mint family
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Lamiaceae Lindley
Genera
See text

Lamium purpureum, showing the bilaterally symmetrical flower

The mints, taxonomically known as Lamiaceae or Labiatae, are a family of flowering plants. They have traditionally been considered closely related to Verbenaceae,^[1] but in the 1990s, phylogenetic studies suggested that many genera classified in Verbenaceae belong instead in Lamiaceae.^[2][3] The currently accepted version of Verbenaceae may not be more closely related to Lamiaceae than some of the other families in the order Lamiales.^[4] It is not yet known which of the families in Lamiales is closest to Lamiaceae.

The family has a cosmopolitan distribution.^[5] The enlarged Lamiaceae contains about 236 genera^[1] and 6,900^[5] to 7,200^[1] species. The largest genera are Salvia (900), Scutellaria (360), Stachys (300), Plectranthus (300), Hyptis (280), Teucrium (250), Vitex, (250) Thymus (220), and Nepeta (200).^[1] Clerodendrum was once a genus of over 400 species,^[1] but by 2010, it had been narrowed to about 150.^[6]

The plants are frequently aromatic in all parts and include many widely used culinary herbs, such as basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano, thyme, lavender, and perilla. Some are shrubs; trees, such as teak; or, rarely, vines. Many members of the family are widely cultivated, owing not only to their aromatic qualities but also their ease of cultivation: these plants are among the easiest plants to propagate by stem cuttings. Besides those grown for their edible leaves, some are grown for decorative foliage, such as coleus. Others are grown for food purposes, but seeds are utilized instead of leaves, such as with chia.

The original family name is Labiatae, so given because the flowers typically have petals fused into an upper lip and a lower lip. Although this is still considered an acceptable alternative name, most botanists now use the name "Lamiaceae" in referring to this family.

The leaves emerge oppositely, each pair at right angles to the previous one (called decussate) or whorled.

The stems are frequently square in cross section, but this is not found in all members of the family, and is sometimes found in other plant families.

The flowers are bilaterally symmetrical with 5 united petals, 5 united sepals. They are usually bisexual and verticillastrate (a flower cluster that looks like a whorl of flowers but actually consists of two crowded clusters).

Genera[link]

The last revision of the entire family was published in 2004.^[1] It described and provided keys to 236 genera. These are marked with an asterisk in the list below. A few genera have been established or resurrected since 2004. These are marked with a plus sign. The remaining genera in the list are mostly of historical interest only and are from a source that includes such genera without explanation.^[7] Few of these are recognized in modern treatments of the family. Adelosa is a nomen dubium. No specimen exists and no one knows what Carl Ludwig Blume described as Adelosa in 1850.

Kew Gardens provides a list of genera that includes additional information and is easy to read.^[8] The list at the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website is frequently updated.^[9]

*Acanthomintha *Achyrospermum Acinos Acrocephalus *Acrotome *Acrymia Adelosa *Aegiphila *Aeollanthus *Agastache *Ajuga *Ajugoides *Alajja *Alvesia *Amasonia *Amethystea *Anisochilus *Anisomeles Archboldia *Asterohyptis *Ballota *Basilicum Becium *Benguellia *Blephilia *Bostrychanthera Bovonia *Brachysola *Brazoria *Bystropogon Calamintha *Callicarpa *Capitanopsis Capitanya *Caryopteris *Catoferia *Cedronella Ceratanthus *Chaiturus *Chamaesphacos *Chaunostoma *Chelonopsis *Chloanthes *Cleonia *Clerodendrum *Clinopodium *Colebrookea *Collinsonia *Colquhounia *Comanthosphace *Congea *Conradina Coridothymus *Cornutia *Craniotome

Cryphia *Cuminia *Cunila *Cyanostegia *Cyclotrichium *Cymaria *Dauphinea *Dicerandra *Dicrastylis Discretitheca Dorystoechas *Dracocephalum *Drepanocaryum *Elsholtzia *Endostemon Englerastrum *Eremostachys *Eriope *Eriophyton Eriopidion *Eriothymus Erythrochlamys Euhesperida *Eurysolen *Faradaya *Fuerstia *Galeopsis *Garrettia Geniosporum *Glechoma *Glechon *Glossocarya *Gmelina *Gomphostemma *Gontscharovia *Hanceola *Haplostachys *Haumaniastrum *Hedeoma *Hemiandra *Hemigenia *Hemiphora *Hemizygia *Hesperozygis *Heterolamium *Hoehnea *Holmskioldia *Holocheila Holostylon *Horminum *Hosea *Hoslundia *Huxleya *Hymenocrater *Hymenopyramis *Hypenia

*Hypogomphia *Hyptidendron *Hyptis *Hyssopus Isodictyophorus *Isodon *Isoleucas +Kalaharia *Karomia Keiskea Kudrjaschevia *Kurzamra *Lachnostachys *Lagochilus *Lagopsis *Lallemantia *Lamiophlomis *Lamium *Lavandula *Leocus *Leonotis *Leonurus *Lepechinia *Leucas Leucophae *Leucosceptrum Limniboza *Lophanthus *Loxocalyx *Lycopus *Macbridea *Madlabium *Mallophora *Marmoritis *Marrubium *Marsypianthes *Matsumurella *Meehania *Melissa *Melittis *Mentha *Meriandra Mesona *Metastachydium *Microcorys *Micromeria *Microtoena *Minthostachys *Moluccella *Monarda *Monardella *Monochilus *Mosla *Neoeplingia Neohyptis Neorapinia

*Nepeta *Newcastelia Nosema *Notochaete *Obtegomeria *Ocimum Octomeron *Ombrocharis *Oncinocalyx *Origanum *Orthosiphon *Otostegia +Ovieda *Oxera *Panzerina *Paralamium *Paraphlomis *Paravitex *Peltodon *Pentapleura *Perilla *Perillula *Peronema *Perovskia Perrierastrum Petitia *Petraeovitex *Phlomidoschema *Phlomis *Phyllostegia *Physopsis *Physostegia *Piloblephis Pitardia *Pityrodia *Platostoma *Plectranthus *Pogogyne *Pogostemon *Poliomintha *Prasium *Premna *Prostanthera *Prunella *Pseudocarpidium *Pseudocaryopteris *Pseudoeremostachys *Pseudomarrubium Puntia *Pycnanthemum *Pycnostachys Rabdosiella *Renschia *Rhabdocaulon *Rhaphiodon *Rhododon

*Rosmarinus *Rostrinucula *Rotheca *Roylea *Rubiteucris +Rydingia Sabaudia *Saccocalyx Salazaria *Salvia *Satureja *Schizonepeta *Schnabelia *Scutellaria *Sideritis *Siphocranion Solenostemon *Spartothamnella *Sphenodesme *Stachydeoma *Stachyopsis *Stachys *Stenogyne *Sulaimania *Suzukia *Symphorema Symphostemon *Synandra *Syncolostemon *Tectona *Teijsmanniodendron +Tetraclea *Tetradenia *Teucridium *Teucrium *Thorncroftia *Thuspeinanta *Thymbra *Thymus *Tinnea *Trichostema *Tripora *Tsoongia *Vitex *Viticipremna +Volkameria *Warnockia *Wenchengia *Westringia Wiedemannia *Wrixonia Xenopoma *Zataria *Zhumeria *Ziziphora

Leucas aspera in Hyderabad, India. Orthosiphon thymiflorus flower.

Recent changes[link]

The circumscription of several genera has changed since 2004. Tsoongia, Paravitex, and Viticipremna have been sunk into synonymy with Vitex.^[10] Huxleya has been sunk into Volkameria.^[6] Kalaharia, Volkameria, Ovieda, and Tetraclea have been segregated from a formerly polyphyletic Clerodendrum.^[6] Rydingia has been separated from Leucas.^[11] The remaining Leucas is paraphyletic over four other genera.^[12]

Subfamilies and tribes[link]

In 2004, Lamiaceae were divided into seven subfamilies with ten genera not placed in any of the subfamilies.^[1] The unplaced genera are: Tectona, Callicarpa, Hymenopyramis, Petraeovitex, Peronema, Garrettia, Cymaria, Acrymia, Holocheila, and Ombrocharis. The subfamilies are Symphorematoideae, Viticoideae, Ajugoideae, Prostantheroideae, Nepetoideae, Scutellarioideae, and Lamioideae. The subfamily Viticoideae is probably not monophyletic.^[10] Prostantheroideae and Nepetoideae are divided into tribes. These are shown in the phylogenetic tree below.

Phylogeny[link]

Most of the genera of Lamiaceae have never been sampled for DNA for molecular phylogenetic studies. Most of those that have been are included in the following phylogenetic tree. The phylogeny depicted below is based on seven different sources.^{[1][3][6][10][13][14][15]}

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lamiaceae

Wikispecies has information related to: Lamiaceae

• List of genera in family LABIATAE At: Dicotyledons At: List Genera within a Family At: Vascular Plant Families and Genera At: About the Checklist At: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families At: Data Sources At: ePIC At: Scientific Databases At: Kew Gardens
• List of Genera in Lamiaceae At: Lamiaceae At: Lamiales At: Angiosperm Phylogeny Website At: Missoure Botanical Garden Website
• List of genera At: Lamiaceae At: List of families At: Families and Genera in GRIN At: Queries At: GRIN taxonomy for plants
• Lamiaceae in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval. http://delta-intkey.com
• Lamiaceae images
• Family Lamiaceae Flowers in Israel
• Chilean Lamiaceae Chileflora
• Family Lamiaceae (Labiatae) Plant Life Forms

Carol Klein
Carol at the 2010 RHS Tatton Park show
Born	1945 Walkden
Nationality	British
Occupation	Television presenter
Employer	BBC
Known for	television gardening programmes
Television	Gardeners World

Carol Klein (born 1945) is a British gardening expert, who also works as a television presenter and newspaper columnist.

Born in Walkden, Salford, Lancashire, in 1945, Carol attended Bolton School and then trained as an art teacher and taught in schools in the London area before moving to Devon. There she taught at North Devon College before setting up her own plant nursery, Glebe Cottage Plants.^[1]

TV work[link]

She made her television debut on Gardeners' World in 1989 and has since presented other gardening programmes such as Real Gardens and Open Gardens.

Recent projects include Life in a Cottage Garden with Carol Klein which follows a year in the life of Carol's garden at Glebe Cottage in North Devon, and Grow Your Own Veg, which encouraged people to start growing their own vegetables. Each week the programme looked at a different group of crop plants or techniques suitable for home gardening. Both programmes were made for BBC Two and she has also been a permanent presenter of Gardeners' World since 2005.

Family life[link]

Klein is married to Neil and the couple have two daughters - Annie and Alice.^[2]

Writing[link]

As well as television work, Carol Klein has written a number of bestselling books for Mitchell Beazley and also writes for various gardening publications such as BBC Gardeners' World magazine as well as a column for British newspaper, The Guardian.

Bibliography[link]

• Plant Personalities: Choosing and Growing Plants by Character with Jonathan Buckley (Cassell Illustrated, 2004) ISBN 1-84403-046-6
• RHS Grow Your Own Veg (Mitchell Beazley, 2007) ISBN 978-1-84533-293-8
• RHS Grow Your Own Fruit (Mitchell Beazley, 2008) ISBN 978-1-84533-434-5
• RHS Grow Your Own Veg Journal (Mitchell Beazley, 2008) ISBN 978-1-84533-471-0
• Cook Your Own Veg (Mitchell Beazley, 2008) ISBN 978-1-84533-407-9

References[link]

External links[link]

• Carol Klein at the Internet Movie Database
• A firm favourite - Article by her in The Guardian, Saturday July 28, 2007
• Grow your own Veg - BBC television programme
• Portrait of her at the National Portrait Gallery
• Life in a Cottage Garden - BBC television programme
• Biography and career