What is "lamiaceae"

The Lamiaceae ( or ) or Labiatae (the mint or deadnettle family) are a family of flowering plants. The plants are frequently aromatic in all parts and include many widely used culinary herbs, such as basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano, hyssop, thyme, lavender, and perilla. Some are shrubs, trees (such as teak), or, rarely, vines. Many members of the family are widely cultivated, owing not only to their aromatic qualities but also their ease of cultivation: these plants are among the easiest plants to propagate by stem cuttings. Besides those grown for their edible leaves, some are grown for decorative foliage, such as coleus. Others are grown for seed, such as Salvia hispanica (chia), or for their edible tubers, such as Plectranthus edulis, Plectranthus esculentus, Plectranthus rotundifolius, and Stachys affinis (Chinese artichoke).

The family has a cosmopolitan distribution. The enlarged Lamiaceae contains about 236 genera and has been stated to contain 6,900 to 7,200 species, but the World Checklist lists 7,534. The largest genera are Salvia (900), Scutellaria (360), Stachys (300), Plectranthus (300), Hyptis (280), Teucrium (250), Vitex (250), Thymus (220), and Nepeta (200). Clerodendrum was once a genus of over 400 species, but by 2010, it had been narrowed to about 150.

The family has traditionally been considered closely related to Verbenaceae,; in the 1990s, phylogenetic studies suggested that many genera classified in Verbenaceae should be classified in the Lamiaceae or to other families in the order Lamiales.

The original family name is Labiatae, so given because the flowers typically have petals fused into an upper lip and a lower lip ( in Latin). The flowers are bilaterally symmetrical with 5 united petals, 5 united sepals. They are usually bisexual and verticillastrate (a flower cluster that looks like a whorl of flowers but actually consists of two crowded clusters). Although this is still considered an acceptable alternative name, most botanists now use the name "Lamiaceae" in referring to this family. The leaves emerge oppositely, each pair at right angles to the previous one (called decussate) or whorled. The stems are frequently square in cross section, but this is not found in all members of the family, and is sometimes found in other plant families.