#slender mountain mint

[dvoeverie-stitches]

Slender Mountain Mint

[vandaliatraveler]

Slender mountain mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium) is a gregarious perennial herb with a bushy, multi-branched form, spreading clusters of double-lipped, purple-spotted flowers, and attractive, needle-like leaves, reminiscent of those of the rosemary plant. The leaves have a strong, mint-like flavor and can be used to make a potent herbal tea. The plant’s characteristic flowers, with their single-lobed upper lips and triple-lobed lower lips, attract a wide variety of pollinators, especially small bees. Slender mountain mint grows in full sun in moist, well-drained soil, often in close proximity to wetlands and streams. The plant is relatively easy to grow in a native wildflower garden and serves multiple purposes - as a clumping, deer-resistant ornamental, an herbal tea source, and a nectar source with high wildlife value. Photos above were taken at Upper Deckers Creek Wildlife Management Area

[dendroica]

Slender Mountain Mint or Narrowleaf Mountainmint, Pycnanthemum tenuifolium (by me)

[floweroftheday]

Slender Mountain Mint by John Beetham

[botanynerd]

Slender Mountain Mint

Pycnanthemum tenuifolium Mint family (Lamiaceae)

Description: This perennial herbaceous plant is 1-3' tall, branching frequently to create a bushy effect. The slender stems are hairless. The slender opposite leaves are up to 3" long and ¼" across. Each leaf is sessile, linear, and hairless, with a prominent central vein and smooth margins.

The upper stems terminate in small flat heads of flowers. The short tubular flowers are white, often with scattered purple dots, and individually about ¼" long. The corolla is divided into an upper lip and a lower lip with three lobes. The reproductive structures of each flower are white, except that the anthers are purple. The calyx is divided into several slender green lobes. The blooming period is early to mid-summer, and lasts about 1–1½ months. There is no floral scent, although the foliage has a mild mint scent and somewhat stronger minty taste. The small dark seeds are without tufts of hairs, but are small enough to be dispersed by gusts of wind. The root system consists of a taproot and rhizomes. Slender Mountain Mint can spread vegetatively, forming colonies of closely bunched plants. Cultivation: The preference is full sun and moist to slightly dry conditions. This plant often grows in rich loam, as well as soil containing rocky or gravelly material. Foliar disease is less troublesome for this mint species than many others. The leaves may assume a yellowish appearance during a major drought. This is an easy plant to grow. Range & Habitat:   Habitats include moist to slightly dry black soil prairies, moist meadows and gravelly areas along rivers, openings in woodlands, moist thickets, acid gravel seeps, limestone glades, and abandoned fields. Faunal Associations: The flowers are very attractive to many kinds of insects, including long-tongued bees, short-tongued bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, skippers, beetles, and plant bugs. These insects usually seek nectar. Among the wasps, are such visitors as Thread-Waisted wasps, Bee Wolves (Philanthus spp.), Scoliid wasps, Tiphiid wasps, Sand wasps, Spider wasps, and Eumenine wasps. Flies visitors include Soldier flies, Syrphid flies, Mydas flies, bee flies, Thick-Headed flies, and Tachinid flies. The seeds are too small to be of much interest to birds. Mammalian herbivores usually don't browse on this plant because of the minty taste; the foliage may contain anti-bacterial substances that disrupt the digestive process of herbivores.

[frolicingintheforest]

Slender Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum flexuosum)