MENTHA (MINT)
But if any man can name
The full list of all the kinds and all the properties
Of mint, he must be one who knows how many fish
Swim in the Indian Ocean, how many sparks Vulcan
Sees fly in the air from his vast furnace in Etna.
Walahfrid Strabo (in Hortulus), c. 850-900 C.E., as quoted in The Big Book of Herbs, p.356
Arthur Tucker’s many interests included the classification, morphology, cytology and chemical evaluation of the genus Mentha (mint). Expanding on his masters and doctoral theses, he published extensive contributions to the Mentha literature culminating in his books: The Big Book of Herbs in 2000 and The Encyclopedia of Herbs in 2009. He was described by one of his colleagues as the world’s authority on Mentha.
