Spearmint
Mentha spicata

The mint written about in ancient texts (and used to pay taxes in Rome!) was most likely spearmint, a common garden mint. In the world's oldest surviving medical text ("Eber's Papyrus" of Egypt), mint is mentioned as a stomach soother. And Pliny said mint "reanimates the spirit." In ancient Rome and Greece, banquet tables were sometimes rubbed with mint to perfume the air and ensure healthy appetites. After these feasts, guests chewed sprigs of mint to soothe their stomachs and aid digestion. After-dinner mints evolved from this practice. Although it has traditionally been used interchangeably with peppermint, spearmint does not contain menthol and is a much milder herb.

Commonly called: spearmint leaves