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Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Mentha x piperita

Mentha x piperita (Lamiaceae)

Common Names
Peppermint
How this plant is used
Generally Recognized as Safe
Subspecies
nothosubsp. piperita
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
ALPHA-TERPINENE 13 Plant 20.0 -0.47 Lawrence, B.M., Essential Oils 1976-1977, Essential Oils 1978, Essential Oils 1979-1980.
ALPHA-TERPINEOL 23 Essential Oil *
ALPHA-THUJONE 6 Essential Oil *
ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL 32 Leaf Leung, A. Y. and Foster, S. 1995. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 649 pp.
ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL 32 Plant *
ALUMINUM 5 Leaf 9.0 62.0 -0.71 *
AMYL-ALCOHOL 1 Plant *
AMYL-VALERATE 0 Leaf 0.1 1.0 Duke, J. A. Writeups or information summaries on approximately 2,000 economic plants, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705.
ANETHOLE 36 Leaf 0.0 0.0 -0.49 Duke, J. A. Writeups or information summaries on approximately 2,000 economic plants, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705.
ARGININE 14 Plant 1730.0 8105.0 -0.60 USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
ASCORBIC-ACID 112 Leaf 30.0 201.0 -0.43 *
ASH 0 Leaf 21009.0 141000.0 0.39 *
ASPARTIC-ACID 3 Leaf 4430.0 20750.0 -0.40 USDA's Ag Handbook 8 and sequelae)
AZULENE 10 Plant Williamson, E. M. and Evans, F. J., Potter's New Cyclopaedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations, Revised Ed., Saffron Walden, the C. W. Daniel Co., Ltd., Essex UK, 362 pp, 1988, reprint 1989.
BENZOIC-ACID 20 Leaf 0.0 0.2 -1.04 Duke, J. A. Writeups or information summaries on approximately 2,000 economic plants, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705.
BENZYL-ALCOHOL 9 Leaf 0.0 0.1 -0.92 Duke, J. A. Writeups or information summaries on approximately 2,000 economic plants, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705.
BENZYL-CYANIDE 0 Leaf 0.0 0.0 Duke, J. A. Writeups or information summaries on approximately 2,000 economic plants, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705.
BETA-BETULENOL 0 Plant J.S. Glasby Dict.Pls Containing 2ndary Metabolite. 1991.
BETA-CAROTENE 53 Leaf 35.0 238.0 -0.10 *
BETA-CARYOPHYLLENE 0 Leaf 8.0 80.0 -0.30 Duke, J. A. Writeups or information summaries on approximately 2,000 economic plants, USDA, ARS, Beltsville, MD 20705.
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
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List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
Mosquitofuge 2 *
Motor-Depressant 4 Buchbauer et al, e.g.Buchbauer et al,1993.Therapeutic properties of essential oils and fragrances. Chap.12 in Teranishi,R, Buttery,R.G and Sugisawa,H. Eds. Bioactive Volatile Compounds from Plants. ACS Symposium Series 525. Amer. Chem. Soc., Washington DC
Mucogenic 3 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Mucolytic 2 Martindale's 29th
Mutagenic 4 *
Myoprotective 1 *
Myorelaxant 8 Martindale's 29th
Narcotic 1 *
Natriuretic 1 *
Nematicide 20 Shoyakugaku Zasshi, 44: 183.
NEP-Inhibitor 1 *
Nephroprotective 1 Toxicol Appl. Pharmacol. 1996.
Nephrotoxic 1 R.J. Hixtable (Huxtable, R.J. (as T. Max). 1992. This and That:The Essential Pharmacology of Herbs and Spices. Tips 13:15-20 Huxtable, R.J. 1992b. The Myth of Benficent Nature. The Risk of Herbal Preparations. Anns. Intern. Med. 117(2):165-6; Huxtable, R.
Neurodepressant 1 Yamamoto, A., Umemori, S., and Muranishi, S. 1993. Absorption Enhancement of Intrapulmonary Administered Insulin by Various Absorption Enhancers and Protease Inhibitors in Rats. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 46: 14-18, 1994.
Neuroexcitant 1 Martindale's 28th
Neuroinhibitor 1 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Neuropathogenic 1 Yamamoto, A., Umemori, S., and Muranishi, S. 1993. Absorption Enhancement of Intrapulmonary Administered Insulin by Various Absorption Enhancers and Protease Inhibitors in Rats. J. Pharm. Pharmacol. 46: 14-18, 1994.
Neuroprotective 2 *
Neurotoxic 4 *
Neurotransmitter 1 *