SCIENTIFIC NAME: Pycnanthemum virginianum
COMMON NAME: Common Mountain Mint, Mountain Mint, Virginia Mountain Mint, Mountain Thyme, Pennyroyal, & Prairie Hyssop
BLOOM TIME: June, July, Aug, Sept
PLANT PROFILE:
- Aromatic mint with square hairy stems 3 ft. tall.
- Narrow painted leaves 2” long, ¼” wide with flower heads densely packed with small purple spotted flowers.
- Habitat: prairies, pastures, roadsides.
- Native Americans baited mink traps with mint.
- Natives Americans also used as a tea for treating rundown conditions.
INSECT/ANIMAL INTERACTIONS:
- Many insects are strongly attracted to the flowers, including various bees, wasps, flies, small butterflies, and beetles.
- Mammals and many leaf-chewing insects apparently find the mint fragrance of the leaves and stems repugnant, and rarely bother this plant.