While not all plants with square stems and opposite leaves are in the mint family, if there is also a four lobed ovary and a distinct, mint-like smell, you can be quite certain that what you’ve come across is indeed a mint of some sort. This can be observed by cutting open the ovary, which is found within the fused sepals beneath the flowerheads. Rather a rarity in the natural world, watermint, as well as just about everything else in the Lamiaceae family (including catnip), has square stems! In addition, every species in the mint family has opposite leaves and a four lobed ovary, meaning that each plant contains four ovules, or eggs, in separate chambers within the ovary. Photo by Joël van der Loo, via Wikimedia CommonsMints are among the easiest plants to identify in the wild, even for novice botanists and plant hobbyists. In fact, it is currently used by environmental professionals to aid in phytoremediation efforts of wetlands and other natural waterways, meaning that watermint could also aid in improving soil and water quality around and in your pond How to Identify Wild Aquatic Mint (Water Mint) Studies have found that water mint is excellent at filtering out pollutants as well as heavy metals such as nickel. Mentha aquatica is considered a generalist species, as a wide variety of insects visit their flowers. Water mint reproduces both via underground rhizomes as well as pollination by insects and birds. It is not typically found in the most northern portions of Europe (Scandinavia) due to frigid, harsh winters, but can occasionally be found along coastlines in Finland where temperatures are slightly more moderate. Over the last 200 years or so, it has become naturalized in North America (primarily in the Midwest, where it’s considered invasive in some areas), South America, and Australia due to being introduced as a popular and tasty herb for use in teas. Water mint, as it’s also called, is native to the majority of Europe as well as northern Africa and western Asia. 1.8 Where to Buy Water Mint Plants & Seeds? (UK & US) Water mint is an easily identifiable plant, and has a great number of benefits when planted in ponds!īelonging to Lamiaceae, the mint family, water mint or aquatic mint is a perennial flowering semiaquatic herb.
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