Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Mentha canadensis
wild mint
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Widely distributed on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across Canada and most of the United States to the Atlantic Coast.

Habitat: Common in lake and pond shore margins, riparian zones, wetlands, and other wet areas at low elevations.

Flowers: July-September

Origin: Native

Growth Duration: Perennial

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bumblebees, bees, butterflies

Description:
General:

Aromatic, perennial herbs from creeping rhizomes, the square stems ascending to erect, pubescent, 2-8 dm. tall.

Leaves:

Leaves opposite, all cauline, short-petiolate, glabrous or hairy, 2-8 cm. long and 6-40 mm. wide, serrate, acuminate, narrowly ovate to rhombic-elliptic, with several pairs of lateral veins.

Flowers:

Flowers in compact verticels in the axils of the upper leaves, the verticels well separated; calyx pubescent, 2.5-3 mm. long, regular, 5-lobed, 10-nerved; corolla nearly regular, four-lobed, with a short tube, white to lavender or pink, 4-7 mm. long; stamens 4, equal, exerted; style 2-parted; ovary 2-celled, superior.

Fruits:

Nutlets 4

Accepted Name:
Mentha canadensis L.
Publication: Sp. Pl. 2: 577. 1753.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Mentha arvensis L., misapplied [HC]
Mentha arvensis L. var. canadensis (L.) Kuntze
Mentha arvensis L. var. glabrata (Benth.) Fernald [HC]
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Mentha canadensis in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database

WA Flora Checklist: Mentha canadensis checklist entry

OregonFlora: Mentha canadensis information

E-Flora BC: Mentha canadensis atlas page

CalPhotos: Mentha canadensis photos

54 photographs:
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