| Mountain mints | |
|---|---|
| Flowering Short-toothed Mountainmint (Pycnanthemum muticum) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Lamiaceae |
| Subfamily: | Nepetoideae |
| Tribe: | Mentheae |
| Genus: | Pycnanthemum Michx. |
| Diversity | |
| About 20 species | |
| Synonyms | |
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Brachystemum Michx. |
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Pycnanthemum is a genus of plants in the mint family (Lamiaceae). They are commonly known as mountain mints (or mountain-mints, mountainmints), though "the Mountain Mint" may also be any locally common species in particular. Some are known as koellias, after an obsolete genus name.
All of the approximately 20 species in this genus are native to North America. Most are very strongly scented and pungent, and are used in cooking and in making herbal tea. Indeed, like the true mints (Mentha) they belong to the tribe Mentheae of subfamily Nepetoideae. However, while the mountainmints are a highly advanced genus most probably closest to the bee balms (Monarda), which are also endemic to North America, the true mints are part of a more basal and largely European radiation of this tribe.
Contents |
Mountainmint species are:[1]