Peppermint,
a mint with oblong, lanceolate, serrate, glabrous leaves; pedicels and flowers nearly smooth; flowers in cylindrical spikes, interrupted below. Oil of peppermint, the oil distilled from the fresh flowers of peppermint. It enters into the composition of peppermint water, essence of peppermint, and spirit of peppermint. It is stimulant and carminative, and is used to correct flatulence and griping in the intestinal canal, and to mask the nauseous taste of some medicines.
Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.