Is this a herb and if so, what is it?

[GinAndOnIt]

I took a load of cuttings from MIL's garden a while ago and shoved some in pots until I could decide where to put them, and some things I just took because they looked nice/grew easily and thought they'd be useful for filling a gap.

Anyway, I've started planting up a herb garden with the obvious herb cuttings, ie mint, sage, thyme etc and noticed this one has a nice smell to it, but I don't recognise it. Looks like basil and smells like mint! Any idea what it is? Or is it just a nice smelling plant?

Looks like oregano to me.

Oregano or marjoram I'd say, although it could be a mint as there are billions of varieties.

Taste it!

I don't think it's mint - the leaf shape is wrong and also, it's one smell pretty much all of us recognise!

Distinguishing between oregano and marjoram requires a better botanist than me. I bought a plant of each, and now get what I suspect are self-seeded hybrids of both popping up all over my garden. Some plants come out almost yellow-leaved, others are a really dark green. Bees seem to like them all equally, though!

Narcy I'm not sure I'd known what taste I was tasting!

I don't think it's mint because MIL had two different types in her garden and was pointing them out, whereas this one was just there to fill a gap I think.

Are oregano and marjoram similar tastes? As in, will it matter if I think it's oregano and use it in cooking when it's actually marjoram?

Marjoram is supposed to be lighter and a bit sweeter- but in practice, I find it varies from seedling to seedling a bit! I don't think I could identify them reliably in a blind taste. There are loads and loads of varieties of oregano too, so it depends which one you have. In shops, it's usually Greek oregano on sale which is quite pungent.