Mountain Mint



Mountain mint


You see the picture above?  And that tiny green plant with about four leaves in the center?  It's mint!

Last week I was working out on the Isle of Arran in the most spectacular March weather Scotland has ever seen.  As I was hiking along, mapping what rocks were where, I spied what looked like mint growing out of some basalt outcrops (a.k.a. black rocks).  I didn't think it would be mint, as I've never associated it with the Scottish countryside.

Upon inspection, however, I found that it had the tell-tale square stalk that is characteristic of mint.  And once I had pinched off a couple of leaves it was clear: definitely mint!  Once I noticed that first clump I found more of it dotted here and there, always where rocks were exposed and often under slight overhangs.

Mint is one of the only edible plants that I remember being taught to identify.  My mother had a patch of mint in her yard that was threatening to take over the world (which is why it's good to keep it planted in a container).  One day in the garden she picked a sprig of mint and told me, "Look, see the square stem? That's mint; all the mint family have square stems." 

How nice to be in the Scottish countryside recalling a lesson I'd had over twenty years ago in a Connecticut garden.



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