Corn Mint
Scientific name: Mentha arvensis L.
Diagnostic features
Plant pubescent, with sickly scent.
Stems erect to decumbent, to 60cm.
Leaves ovate- to lanceolate-elliptic, cuneate at base, with shallow, blunt teeth, petiolate.
Whorls in leaf-axils.
Calyx 1.5-2.5mm, including triangular teeth up to 0.5mm, pubescent all over, bell-shaped.
Corolla lilac.
Chromosome number: 2n=72.
Habitat
Native; arable fields, damp places in wood- clearings, fields and pondsides.
Distribution
Fairly common throughout most of British Isles.
This species is keyed out on Page 3110 in the Text Key.
Hybrids
- Mentha x carinthiaca Host (= Mentha arvensis x Mentha suaveolens) (Synonym: Mentha x muelleriana F.W. Schultz) occurred in South Devon and Dorset but is now extinct; it is similar to Mentha arvensis but has usually larger, broader leaves with deeper, sharper serrations and is sterile. Chromosome number: 2n=60.
- See Mentha verticillata(x) L. (= Mentha arvensis x Mentha aquatica)
- See Mentha smithiana(x) R.A. Graham (= Mentha arvensis x Mentha aquatica x Mentha spicata)
- See Mentha gracilis(x) Sole (= Mentha arvensisx Mentha spicata) |
