Corn Mint

Corn Mint - Mentha arvensis

Description

Short to medium, hairy plant with a rather sickly sweet scent. Stems ascending to erect. Flowers purplish or pinkish, occasionally white, 3 to 4 mm long in distant, dense whorls, forming spikes that are leafy at the apex.

Similar Species

Other mints, including hybrids and garden varieties

Identification difficulty
Recording advice

Either obtain confirmation from a County Recorder before submitting a record, or submit detailed images showing key features.  We recommend that you take and retain a specimen; the County Recorder may wish to see this for confirmation. (RPR)

Habitat

Damp habitats, open woodland, around the edges of wet areas.

When to see it

July to September.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Found throughout Britain but scarcer in the north.

VC55 Status

In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi & Evans, 1988) it was found in 70 of the 617 tetrads, and in 30 tetrads in the Flora of Rutland (Messenger, 1971).

It is on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall & Woodward, 2022) as Local; included because of its threat level; usually only small numbers of plants found, and threatened in woodland rides by shading

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Additional images

All NatureSpot records

Photo of the association

Mint Rust

Puccinia menthae is a rust fungus which galls the leaves of various Mints (Water Mint, etc.), and occasionally Marjoram or Wild Basil. Young leaves at shoot tip become thickened, distorted, with purple patches. carrying aecia and spermogonia; later uredinia and telia are present.