corn mint
Mentha arvensis
Corn mint contains a significantly higher concentration of menthol compared to Peppermint, making it the primary global source for menthol extraction.
- Scientific name
- Mentha arvensis
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Lamiales › Lamiaceae › Mentha
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Damp meadows, marshes, riverbanks, and moist disturbed ground.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (Photosynthesis, absorbing nitrogen and minerals from moist soil).
- Range
- Europe, Central Asia, Northern Asia, North America
- Size
- 10 to 60 cm in height; spreads indefinitely via underground stolons.
- Lifespan
- Perennial (Individual stems are seasonal, but rhizome systems can live for decades).
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Wetland drainage, intensive herbicide use in agriculture, and habitat fragmentation.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless and highly aromatic. It is safe to touch and smell. While edible and used in teas, ensure positive identification to avoid toxic mimics like Pennyroyal. If foraging, wash thoroughly to remove potential agricultural runoff or parasites.
Mentha arvensis , the corn mint , field mint , or wild mint , is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae. It has a circumboreal distribution, being native to the temperate regions of Europe and western and central Asia, east to the Himalaya and eastern Siberia, and North America. Mentha canadensis, the related species, is also included in Mentha arvensis by some authors as two varieties, M. arvensis var. glabrata Fernald (in reference to North American plants...
Photo: Brandon McCracken, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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