Hedeoma pulegioides
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| Hedeoma pulegioides | ||||||||||||||
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| Hedeoma pulegioides (L.) Pers. |
Hedeoma pulegioides (American Pennyroyal, or American False Pennyroyal[1]) is a species of Hedeoma native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia and southern Ontario west to Minnesota and South Dakota, and south to northern Georgia and Arkansas.[2]
It is a low-growing, strongly aromatic herbaceous annual plant from 15–30 cm tall, with a slender erect much-branched, somewhat hairy and square stem. The leaves are small, thin, and rather narrow, with a strong mintlike odor and pungent taste. The flowers are pale blue, hermaphroditic, produced in small clusters; it flowers from mid to late summer.[3]
Other names are mock pennyroyal, squaw mint, tickweed, stinking balm, mosquito plant, American falsepennyroyal, and American false pennyroyal.[4][3]
The name pulegioides is derived from the Latin pulegium and oides, and means "like pennyroyal".[5] Hedeoma pulegiodes is also known by the synonyms Melissa pulegioides L. (basionym), Cunila pulegioides (L.) L., and Ziziphora pulegioides (L.) Desf.[1][6]
The term "Pennyroyal" (or Pennyrile, from a dialectal pronunciation) is also used to describe a geographic province of western Kentucky, the Pennyroyal Plateau, where H. pulegioides grew in profusion sufficient to lend its name to the whole area.
[edit] References
- ^ a b USDA Plants Profile: Hedeoma pulegioides. Accessed June 19, 2007.
- ^ Germplasm Resources Information Network: Hedeoma pulegioides
- ^ a b Plants for a Future: Hedeoma pulegioides. Accessed June 19, 2007.
- ^ NEWCrop USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 77: The Herb Hunters Guide: American Medicinal Plants of Commercial Importance. NEWCrop's online transcription of the 1930 USDA publication March 11, 1998. Accessed June 19, 2007.
- ^ Griffith, Chuck. Dictionary of Botanical Epithets. Accessed June 19, 2007.
- ^ BONAP (Biota of North America Program). Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Accessed June 19, 2007.
