Mountain Mint

Mountain Mint

Common name:  Mountain mint, short-toothed mountain mint,  or clustered mountain mint

Scientific name:  Pycnanthemum muticum

Family:  Mint, Lamiaceae

Bloom period:  July through September

What to look for:  Small, pale pink, two-lipped flowers in dense, flat-topped clusters with underlying silvery leaf-like bracts.  The leaves have a strong spearmint-like aroma when crushed.  When planted in groups, the silvery bracts give the entire planting the appearance of being dusted by a white powdery snow.

Where to see it:  Several plantings of mountain mint can be found in the building 1 garden, but more are found throughout the building 2 garden. 

Benefit to pollinators:  In a 2013 Penn State Extension plant trial for native plants in the Mid-Atlantic region, P. muticum ranked first for sheer number of insect visitors—78—during a two-minute period.  In subsequent testing, it consistently ranked the best for diversity of pollinators, attracting native bees, beneficial wasps, beetles, skippers, and small butterflies.  It also had one of the lengthiest periods of  peak bloom (10+ weeks).

More info:  Compounds within mountain mint have analgesic, antiseptic, and tonic properties.  Mountain mint preparations are used in herbal medicine to treat menstrual disorders, wounds, indigestion, mouth sores and gum disease, toothache, colic, coughs, colds, chills, and fevers.