Apple mint
Mentha suaveolens
Family · Lamiaceae · Harmless
The big woolly mint of stream margins, its leaf almost white to the touch. Smells of mint with a hint of apple, and is one of the easiest plants to find on a damp trail.
Streams and ditches · Roadsides and waste ground · Fields and pasture
Also known asround-leaved mint, woolly mint
How to tell it
A round, wrinkled leaf covered in white hairs beneath. A spike of white or pinkish flowers at the tip of each stem. A square stem, like all the mint family.
What it is confused with
Pennyroyal
Mentha pulegium
Pennyroyal is low and small-leaved, with flowers in rings along the stem. Apple mint is tall, broad and hairy-leaved, with a terminal spike.
What it is for
Used in infusions and as a kitchen mint when there is no other, though coarser than the garden kind. It was also strewn on house floors to keep insects away.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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