Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Field Mint - Mentha arvensis   L.
Members of Lamiaceae:
Members of Mentha with account distribution info or public map:
Google Images
Section 6 » Order Lamiales » Family Lamiaceae
AuthorL.
DistributionThe taxonomic split between M. arvensis in the strict sense and M. canadensis -- a native species in N.A. -- has not carried over to many herbaria. Hardly any specimens have been annotated. Therefore, we cannot with certainty identify each and every specimen. Nonetheless, collections from Iredell and Macon counties appear to represent M. arvensis strict sense. Iredell must be deleted, since it was gathered from an unknown source by Hyams. There are 2 Macon collections, from 1945 and 1951 (at DUKE). A specimen from Dare County (NCSC) is actually a Pycnanthemum.

Native of Europe; in N.A., distribution data not yet determined.
AbundanceVery rare.
HabitatPond margin, woods.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting July-August. It has a minty fragrance.
IdentificationField Mint in the strict sense is European -- adventive or escaped here. It features a series of 4-10 hemispherical clusters of lavender or pink flowers in the axils of leaves. Its leaves are relatively rounded at the base, versus tapered in Canada Mint (M. canadensis).
Taxonomic CommentsWeakley (2018) includes this within M. canadensis, whereas most older references used M. arvensis as the name (without teasing out M. canadensis).

Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE
Global RankG5
State Status
US Status
USACE-agcpFACW link
USACE-empFACW link
County Map - click on a county to view source of record.
Select a source
AllHerbaria
Select an occurrence type
AllCollection_non_natural