wild mint

not listed

N5? - Secure

SNR - Unranked

not listed

FACW - Facultative wetland

FACW - Facultative wetland

FACW - Facultative wetland

Wild mint is a 4″ to 32″ tall, erect, perennial forb that rises from a rhizome and fibrous roots. It often forms colonies. The plant is highly aromatic and can often be detected by its minty odor before it is seen.

The stems are erect or ascending and square. They are covered above the middle, especially on the angles, with both spreading, barely curved hairs and appressed, downward-pointing hairs. They are hairless near the base and often hairless between the angles.

The leaves are opposite, broadly lance-shaped or egg-shaped, ¾″ to 3⅛″ long, and ¼″ to 1½″ wide. They are on short leaf stalks. They are wedge shaped at the base and taper to a point at the tip. The upper surface is hairless or nearly hairless. The lower surface is sparsely covered with short, soft hairs. Both surfaces are covered with minute, sunken glands. The margins are toothed except near the base with sharp, forward pointing teeth. When crushed, the leaves have a strong mint aroma.

The inflorescence is a dense pair of branched, round-topped clusters of up to 20 or more flowers rising from the axils of opposite pairs of middle and upper leaves. The adjacent clusters form false whorls. The space between the nodes with flowers is about equal to the space between the nodes without flowers.

The flowers are ⅛″ to ¼″ long. There are 5 green, hairy sepals (calyx) united for most of their length into a tube then divided into 5 short lobes. There are 5 white to light purple or pink petals, united for most of their length into a tube then divided into 2 lips. The upper lip is a single lobe with a notch at the top. The lower lip is divided into three, nearly equal lobes. The division of the corolla into two lips is not obvious, and the corolla has the appearance of having 4 regular lobes. There are four stamens of nearly equal length that protrude well beyond the corolla tube.

The fruit is a smooth, light brown nutlet less than 1 ⁄16″ in diameter.

4″ to 32″

White to light purple or pink

Wet to moist. Sedge meadows, calcareous fens, shores, streambanks, ditches. Full sun.

July to September

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 28, 29, 30.

Native

In 1994, Flora of China observed that the North American plants classified as Mentha arvensis have a number of distinguishing features, including a higher number of chromosomes and a different leaf shape. It suggested that the native North American plants be segregated into a new species, Mentha canadensis.

The change is controversial. In recent years there has been growing support for the name change, but it has not been universally accepted. Some botanists argue that the North American plants are still sufficiently similar to Mentha arvensis to warrant the same name. They also point out that the name change could cause confusion, as Mentha canadensis is already the name of a different species of mint that is native to eastern Asia.

Plant

Inflorescence

Flowers

Leaves

Location: Onamia, MN

Hello. We found some growing on our property.