Mang lak nam & saranae yuan

[Kanga Japan]

1. Does anyone know how to write MANG LAK NAM in Thai script? I am told that it refers to the plant species of Mentha pulegium.

2. I was also told that SARANAE YUAN also refers to this same species.

I know that this translated means Vietnamese Mint, however there is another plant known as Vietnamese mint/Vietnamese coriander in English (pak pai ผักไผ่ or pak peow ผักแพว). Could SARANAE YUAN have two separate meanings?

Thank you for your help.

[AyG]

Kanga, I think we've been through part of this. Yuan does not literally translate as Vietnamese. It refers to a historic region of Vietnam. It's the English that is using Vietnamese mint to refer to different plants.

แมงลักน้ํา is indeed the same as สะระแหน่ญวน. See http://www.royin.go.th/upload/246/FileUpload/2161_4096.pdf

[AyG]

Your romanisation is not quite right - no final N. I'd write it as maeng lak naa.

[Kanga Japan]

Thank your for your 2 mails on this subject AyG. Yes, you are right. We did cover this in a way, on a previous subject regarding Vietnamese Mint/Vietnamese Coriander.

Eric from Dokmai Gardens gave me the name MANG LAK NAM, but didn't include the Thai script, so I did not notice that it should have been NAA instead of NAM. As he said that MANG LAK NAA and SARANAE YUAN were both in the Pennyroyal group, I thought this might be a completely different meaning.

Does this mean that MANG LAK NAA is in the Mentha Pulegium species? I am trying to find the Thai word for Pennyroyal (Mentha Pulegium). If so, I will not include SARANAE YUAN in this group, as it would be confused with Vietnamese Mint/Vietnamese Coriander.

Thanks for your help. I only now need confirmation that MANG LAK NAA is in the Mentha Pulegium group, meaning Pennyroyal. No hurry for your reply. I do not want to take up too much of your time, particularly on the weekend.

[AyG]

สะระแหน่ญวน is Mentha pulegium see http://www.thaikasetsart.com/%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B0%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%88/

(Kasetsart University has a wonderful agriculture department and holds regular fairs where they sell off rare, difficult to find plants. Definitely a reliable source.)

Mentha pulegium is Pennyroyal.

And แมงลักน้ํา is สะระแหน่ญวน (as proven previously).

I think that should be all cleared up now.

In my (albeit limited) experience, สะระแหน่ญวน is the more common term, so please don't omit it.

[Kanga Japan]

Dear AyG,

Sorry, but I forgot to mention. I looked at the site you gave me (www.royin...), but it was all in Thai, so I tried to read it with Google Translate, but it was a little hard to understand. Thanks anyway.

[AyG]

Sorry. I only provided the link for reference should anyone question what I'd asserted. The relevant phrase is "สะระแหน่ ญวน (Mentha pulegium L.) ".

[AyG]

Sorry. Wrote site. From the Royal Institute site the relevant phrase is "สะระแหน่ญวน หรือแมงลักน้ํา".

[Kanga Japan]

OK. Thanks AyG.

[Kanga Japan]

Dear AyG,

Thank you for the information in your mail regarding Kasetsart University. I am glad you recommended including the name Vietnamese Mint in the Mentha Pulegium group. I was still uneasy including it, so I thought I would try searching for Vietnamese Mint and Mentha Pulegium. Eureka!

Thanks to your persistence, I was able to find out that there is a plant called Vietnamese Mint in the Mentha Pulegium species (not to be confused with the OTHER most common Vietnamese Mint/Vietnamese Coriander in the Persicaria odorata species). Just for your information, here is the page referring to it (they also state that this name is confusing).

http://gernot-katzers-spice-pages.com/engl/Ment_pip.html

We have now solved this problem. Thank you again.

[Richard W]

Kanga, I think we've been through part of this. Yuan does not literally translate as Vietnamese. It refers to a historic region of Vietnam. It's the English that is using Vietnamese mint to refer to different plants.

แมงลักน้ํา is indeed the same as สะระแหน่ญวน. See http://www.royin.go.th/upload/246/FileUpload/2161_4096.pdf

The final syllable has been mistyped. It has been typed <no nu, mai tho, nikkhahit, sara aa> whereas it should have been typed <no nu, mai tho, sara am>. The transliteration should therefore be 'maeng lak nam', with a final 'm' as originally written. There are plenty of images of a mint-like plant for แมงลักน้ำ. I wonder if AyG's browser was failing to render the nikkhahit above the tone mark. Edited May 4, 2014 by Richard W

[Kanga Japan]

Richard W,

I am afraid I will have to hand this one over to AyG.

[AyG]

Kanga, I think we've been through part of this. Yuan does not literally translate as Vietnamese. It refers to a historic region of Vietnam. It's the English that is using Vietnamese mint to refer to different plants.

แมงลักน้ํา is indeed the same as สะระแหน่ญวน. See http://www.royin.go.th/upload/246/FileUpload/2161_4096.pdf

The final syllable has been mistyped. It has been typed <no nu, mai tho, nikkhahit, sara aa> whereas it should have been typed <no nu, mai tho, sara am>. The transliteration should therefore be 'maeng lak nam', with a final 'm' as originally written. There are plenty of images of a mint-like plant for แมงลักน้ำ. I wonder if AyG's browser was failing to render the nikkhahit above the tone mark.

Well spotted. I cut and pasted from the Royal Institute document where they've typed the characters wrongly meaning the text doesn't display correctly, and I misread it. This would also make the spelling consistent with Kanga's original Romanisation.

แมงลักน้ำ/MANG LAK NAM it is.

[Kanga Japan]

Thanks Richard W for noticing that and AyG for rechecking.

I have revised my records accordingly.