Variability of taxonomically significant traits in menthol mint from the collection of the Voznesensky branch of the NIIMK

Modern domestic menthol mints were developed with the involvement of various breeding methods, including interspecific hybridization. This led to the appearance of high-menthol varieties, markedly different from the typical phenotype of peppermint. All-Russian Research Institute of Oil Crops by V.S. Pustovoit also maintains a collection of menthol mints with a wide variation in the main taxonomically significant traits. We conducted our researches in Voznesensky branch (Labinsk district of the Krasnodar region) and on fields of the All-Russian Research Institute of Oil Crops by Pustovoit V.S. (Krasnodar) in the period of 2017-2018. We studied the main taxo-nomically significant traits in 20 variety samples. We used as the standard the English Peppermint variety, which possesses a typical peppermint morphotype for the species, including a short spike inflorescence and an egg-shaped lanceolate short-petiole leaf. As a result of the taxonomic analysis of the collection, mint forms with an elongated spikelike inflorescence with densely located whorls and fertile flowers; with a loose spikeshaped inflorescence with whorls widely spaced along the flowering axis; with elongated spherical and capitate leafy inflorescences were selected...