A square-stemmed, minty-smelling plant with hairy oval leaves in pairs and a round head of lilac flowers at the top, growing in a ditch
Water mint, Mentha aquatica.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Water mint
Native · flowers Jul–Oct · wet ground and water margins
Mentha aquatica — Lamiaceae
A strongly aromatic native mint of ditches, fens, pond edges and wet meadows, spreading by runners into sizeable patches. Its round heads of lilac-pink flowers attract butterflies and hoverflies late in summer. It is one of the parents of peppermint.
How to spot them
- ▸Strong minty smell when the leaves are crushed or brushed
- ▸Hairy, oval, toothed leaves in opposite pairs on reddish, square stems (Wildlife Trusts: up to 50 cm)
- ▸Dense, rounded heads of lilac-pink flowers at the tips of the stems, often with one or two smaller whorls just below
- ▸Grows in wet places, spreading by underground runners
- ▸Look-alike: corn mint (Mentha arvensis) has its flowers only in whorls at the leaf joints along the stem; water mint has a terminal head
How to know it
One parent of peppermint, crossed with spearmint
Water mint — Mentha × piperita is the hybrid of Mentha aquatica and Mentha spicata.
Reddish stems, opposite toothed leaves and a terminal flower-head distinguish it from a cornfield relative with flowers only in whorls
Water mint versus corn mint.
It attracts Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock butterflies, and is eaten by the green tortoise beetle
Water mint, per the Wildlife Trusts.
Flowering from July to October, it spreads by underground runners along the margins of ponds and streams
Water mint.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Lamiaceae, the mint family, with square stems and opposite leaves
- •Wildlife Trusts: flowers July to October, up to 50 cm tall, spreads rapidly by runners
- •Peppermint, Mentha × piperita, is a sterile hybrid between water mint and spearmint, Mentha spicata
- •Visited by Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock butterflies, and food of the green tortoise beetle, according to the Wildlife Trusts
- •Aromatic leaves can be used for flavouring in cooking and drinks
- •Native to Britain, common in wet grassland, fens and ditches
- •Mentha refers to the nymph Minthe in Greek myth, changed into a plant by Persephone
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Water mint