Lesser calamint
Clinopodium nepeta
Family · Lamiaceae · Harmless
The verge mint that smells of mint and oregano at once, flowering when almost everything else has dried. In Italy it is the kitchen nepitella; here, almost nobody uses it.
Roadsides and waste ground · Walls and rocks · Oak woods · Fields and pasture
Also known asfield balm, calamint
How to tell it
Small oval leaves with soft teeth, covered in fine hairs. Very pale white or lilac flowers, small, in loose groups along the stem. A sweet, minty smell when rubbed.
What it is confused with
Oregano
Origanum vulgare
They share the verge and the scent. Oregano forms a flat-topped cluster with dark bracts; lesser calamint has loose flowers along the stem and a minty edge oregano lacks.
What it is for
A seasoning for mushrooms, meat and olives in Mediterranean cooking, and a traditional digestive infusion. One of the best late-summer plants for insects.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.
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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