Name: Lamiaceae
Alternative Name: Labiatae
Meaning of Name:
Lamiaceae, from Latin lamium (‘deadnettle’) + Latin -āceae (the feminine plural of -āceus,‘resembling’, a suffix used to form the taxonomic family names of plants, algae, bacteria, and fungi)
Labiatae, from New Latin labiatus (‘having lips’, a reference to flowers typically having fused petals resembling an upper and lower lip) + -ae (feminine plural suffix used to form adjectives)
Common Names:
The mint, deadnettle, or sage family
Botanical Information:
Lamiaceae comprises some 230 genera and over 7,000 species. Many plants in this family are highly aromatic and have culinary and medicinal uses. These include mint, sage, basil, thyme, marjoram, oregano, bee balm, rosemary, lavender, and alehoof. Some Lamiaceae members, such as Plectranthus and Coleus species, are grown as ornamentals.
Lamiaceae are known for their square stems, but this is not a defining botanical characteristic, as some members do not have square stems, while other species outside this family do. All Lamiaceae do have flowers symmetical about one axis, with five petals and five sepals, and all Lamiaceae have pairs of opposite leaves, with each pair at right angles to the pair below.
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