5 Euros Longleaf spearmint (mentha longifolia), Silver

Part of Portugal's long-running Botânica série, this issue belongs to a program that has quietly become one of the more scientifically rigorous plant-themed numismatic series in European minting — each coin developed in consultation with botanical researchers rather than purely decorative intent. Mentha longifolia grows wild across the Iberian peninsula and has been documented in Portuguese herbal pharmacopoeia since at least the 16th century, appearing in manuscripts from the period of the great overseas expeditions when botanical cataloguing became a matter of imperial as much as medical interest.