Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Mentha diemenica

Flowering plant. Photographer Don Wood, Mimosa Rocks National Park east of Bega

Flowering stems. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Flowering stems. Photographer Don Wood, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, ACT

Common name

Slender mint, Wild mint

Family

Lamiaceae

Where found

Dry forest, woodland, grassy areas, and seasonally damp places. Widespread.

Notes

Perennial herb, mat-forming, to 0.25m tall, stems sometimes erect. Stems 4-angled, more or less hairy. Leaves with a strong mint smell when rubbed, opposite each other, 0.4-2 cm long, 2-12 mm wide, hairless or hairy, dotted with glands, margins entire or sometimes toothed, tips somewhat pointed to rounded. Flowers pink or mauve to purple, occasionally white, 4-7 mm long, tubular, with 4 lobes each about 1–2 mm long, vaguely 2-lipped, in clusters of 1-8 flowers at the base of the paired leaves. Flowers all year.

Intergrades with Mentha satureioides.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Mentha~diemenica  (accessed 24 January, 2021)