Plant Species: Mentha arvensis, field mint
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae - mint
Genus: Mentha
Species: arvensis
Variety:
Common Name: field mint
Species Code: MEAR4
Origin: A circumboreal species native to moist to wet, open places, often near water, over much of North America.
Rare: no
Form: forb, perennial from rhizomes; stems ascending to erect, simple or branched, square in cross-section, 20-80 cm tall, pubescent, (often glabrous between the angles).
Mature height: 8-32 inches
Duration: perennial
Longevity: medium lifespan
Habitat Type: wetland
Wetland Indicator Status: FACW-
Leaves: opposite, short-petiolate becoming subsessile upward, 2-8 cm long by 2-4 cm wide, glabrous or hairy, crenate to serrate, acute, usually elliptic but ranging from narrowly ovate to rhombic-elliptic, base tapered, lower side short-hairy, especially on the veins.
Flowers: borne in axillary clusters on a compact verticil, each head subtended by leaves and separated by regular internodes; calyx campanulate, pubescent, 2-3 mm long, with short teeth; corolla tubular, 4-lobed, white to light purple to pink, 4-7 mm long, the stamens and style exserted.
Flower color: white, pink
Bloom: May, June
Bloom starts on:
Bloom ends on:
Fruit: cluster of 4 nutlets, ovoid, 0.7-0.8 mm long, brown.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes.
M. canadensis in Piper & Beattie 1914.
The native North American plants were considered to be var. glabrata by Hitchcock et al (1969). St. John (1963) recognized 3 varieties. More recent treatments do not include infraspecific taxa.
Flowers are perfect.
n=6, 27, 30-31, 32, about 45, 46 (Hitchcock et al 1969).
2n=24, 54, 72, 90 (Baldwin et al 2004).
Polyploidy, aneuploidy, and hybridization are common in Mentha.
Leaves and stems contain menthol and are used for tea.
Fruit is a nutlet.
Wildlife eat the nutlets (Guard 1995).
Comments:
Sun requirement: full sun to partial shade
Soil moisture: moist to wet
Precipitation: 20-50 inches (USDA NRCS PLANTS Database 2009).
Fire:
Hazards:
Sowing time: no information available
Transplant time: fall or spring
Stratification: no information available
Seed yield: no information available
Seed harvest: no information available.
Seed first harvest: no information available.
Seed cleaning: no information available.
Planting duration: no information available.
Seed insect problem:
Seed shatter:
Seed size: small
Seed harvest date: no information available.
Seed comments:
Keywords: native perennial wetland forb
Alternate Genus:
Alternate Species: canadensis
Alternate Variety:
Propagation:
Reproduces both sexually by seed and vegetatively by rhizomes. Can be propagated from divisions and probably from stem cuttings.
Notes:
References:
Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 11/24/09 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html
Guard, B. Jennifer. 1995. Wetland Plants of Oregon and Washington. Lone Pine Publishing. Renton, WA.
Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA. 5 vol.
Piper, C.V., and R.K. Beattie. 1914. The Flora of Southeastern Washington and Adjacent Idaho. Press of the New Era Printing Company, Lancaster, PA. 296 pp.
St. John, Harold. 1963. Flora of Southeastern Washington and of Adjacent Idaho. 3rd edition. Outdoor Pictures. Escondido, CA.
USDA NRCS. 2009. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 24 November 2009). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.