Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; British Columbia to California, east across much of North America to the Atlantic Coast.
Habitat: Banks of streams and ditches and other damp places.
Flowers: June-August
Origin: Introduced from Europe
Growth Duration: Perennial
Conservation Status: Not of concern
Pollination: Bumblebees, bees, butterflies
Aromatic, perennial herbs from creeping rhizomes, the square stems nearly glabrous, upright, 3-10 dm. tall.
Leaves opposite, all cauline, sub-sessile, the blade lance-ovate to elliptic, 2-7 cm. long and 0.8-2.5 cm. broad, serrate, pointed, the mid-vein with stiff hairs beneath.
Verticels crowded into slender, terminal spikes, 3-12 cm. long and 0.5-1 cm. wide; calyx 1.5-2 mm. long, the tube glabrous, the 5 lobes with stiff marginal hairs; corolla 2-4 mm. long, nearly regular, four-lobed, with a short tube, pale lavender or sometimes white; stamens 4, equal, exerted; style 2-parted; ovary 2-celled, superior.
Nutlets 4
PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Mentha spicata in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database
WA Flora Checklist: Mentha spicata checklist entry
OregonFlora: Mentha spicata information
E-Flora BC: Mentha spicata atlas page
CalPhotos: Mentha spicata photos