system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: The difference between spearmint and peppermint.

I've always seen these two flavors of things and never really understood the difference. I assume there must be some difference, but I have no idea what it is.
gpt
Spearmint's a plant, *Mentha spicata.*

Peppermint is a hybrid, the result of a cross between spearmint and another plant in the same genus, *Mentha aquatica,* called watermint.

They're different plants, in other words, which have similar but different flavors when eaten straight or used as a flavoring.