Kissin' Cousins

Day 305: Observing Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium, left) and Peppermint (Mentha x piperita, right), you would be correct in assuming that their similar characteristics meant they were related. However true that may be in this case, it is not always a safe assumption. As botanical research has entered a new phase with the advent of genetic testing and DNA sampling, we are finding that many species we thought were related based on shared morphology such as flower/leaf shape are actually not related at all, and in other cases, plants we thought were distinctly different species and sometimes even different genera are in fact close kin. This is all very exciting if you're a taxonomist, job security at the very least. For the rest of us, though, it's a major headache as we try to update our field guides with new nomenclature and attempt to readjust our aging brains to accept new names in replacement of the ones we've used for decades. Even the Peppermint shown above has not escaped revision. Once thought to be a distinct species (M. piperita), we now know that it is a hybrid of two or more "kissin' cousins," hence the "x" given as its middle name.