Spear Mint

Spear Mint near a pond,
Kingston Deverill, Wiltshire

Flower spikes

Close-up of flowers with protruding stamens

Lanceolate, serrated leaves
Mentha spicata
Lamiaceae
July to October
It is found almost everywhere but is slightly more common in
the South and Southwest.
See the BSBI distribution map for Spear Mint
It is an archeophyte and a hybrid between Horse Mint, Mentha
longifolia, and Round-leaved Mint, Mentha suaveolens.
It is grown in gardens for looks and smell and regularly escapes
to form naturalised populations.
In the wild it grows on moist waste ground and by paths and
roads.
Spear Mint is a rhizome-forming, perennial, pungently aromatic
herb, growing up to 90cm.
Flowers are in terminal spikes.
Individual flowers are lilac and up to 4mm.
The stamens protrude from the flower.
Leaves are lanceolate, unstalked, serrately-toothed and up to 9cm.
Stems are erect and branched.
The plants shown here are quite downy for Spear Mint.
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