Muña

Minthostachys mollis is a medicinal plant restricted to the South American Andes from Peru to Bolivia. It is the most variable and widely distributed species of the genus Minthostachys. Its common name, muña, comes from Quechua, and other local names include tipo, tipollo and poleo. In the indigenous medicine traditions of the Andes the plant is made into tea and used medicinally as a carminative, a remedy for wind in the gut, and as an aphrodisiac, although the page marks this claim as needing a citation. The principal components of its essential oil include pulegone, menthone, menthol, beta-pinene, alpha-pinene, limonene, isomenthone, piperic acid, eucalyptol and carvone. In the flowering tops, 19 compounds were identified in the essential oil, predominantly neomenthol at 29 per cent, menthone at 24 per cent, menthol at 20 per cent and piperitone at 8 per cent.