Water Mint
Scientific name: Mentha aquatica L.
Diagnostic features
Plant subglabrous to pubescent, with strong pleasant (not spearmint-like) scent.
Stems erect, to 90cm.
Leaves ovate, broadly cuneate to subcordate at base, with rather shallow, rather blunt teeth, petiolate.
Upperwhorls in axils of small bracts, congested to form rounded head.
Calyx tubular, with narrowly triangular to subulate teeth, 3-4.5mm.
Corolla lilac.
Chromosome number: 2n=96.
Habitat
Native; marshes, ditches, wet fields and by ponds.
Distribution
Common throughout British Isles.
This species is keyed out on Page 3115 in the Text Key.
Hybrids
- 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)
- Mentha x suavis Guss. (= Mentha aquatica xMentha suaveolens) (Synonym: Mentha x maximilianea F.W. Schultz) occurs near the parents in West Cornwall, North Devon and Jersey; it is similar to Mentha aquatica but has more rugose leaves with more cordate base, and much narrower (c.9-15mm) often longer terminal heads. Chromosome number: 2n=72, 84.
- See Mentha piperita(x) L. (= Mentha aquatica x Mentha spicata) |
