Pennyroyal
Mentha pulegium
Family · Lamiaceae · Irritating
The mint of places that flood in winter and dry out in summer. It is the soul of Alentejo dogfish soup, and you smell it by stepping on it without even looking.
Streams and ditches · Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known asEuropean pennyroyal
How to tell it
Low-growing, with lilac flowers in tight rings around the stem at several levels. A strong, almost medicinal mint smell. Grows where water has stood.
What it is confused with
Apple mint
Mentha suaveolens
Apple mint is bigger, with a broad hairy leaf, and its flowers form a spike at the tip. Pennyroyal is low, small-leaved, and its flowers sit in rings along the stem.
What it is for
A traditional seasoning for dogfish and fish soups in the Alentejo, and an infusion plant. Important note: concentrated pennyroyal essential oil is liver-toxic, which is why the tag here says traditional use and not remedy.
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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