Mentha arvensis L., Lamiaceae

Click on an image for links to BIGGER PICTURES

Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Mentha austriaca Jacq.; Mentha gentilis L.

Common name(s): [more details]

Chamorro: yerba buena

English: European corn mint, corn mint, field mint, mint

French: baume des champs, menthe des champs

Habit:  herb

Description:  "Hirsute perennial or annual with odour like a mixture of cheap scent and mouldy cheese.  Rhizomes hypogeal, white, brittle.  Flowering stems to 60 cm, ascending to erect.  Leaves (15-) 20-50 (-70) x 10-30 (-40) mm, elliptic-lanceolate to broadly ovate, with often rather blunt apex and cuneate or attenuate base, petiolate.  Flowers in remote sessile verticillasters, lower rarely minutely pedunculate, subtended by leaf-like bracts, inflorescence leafy at apex.  Calyx 1.5-2.5 mm, broadly campanulate with obscure veins and broadly triangular teeth.  Pedicels usually glabrous.  Corolla lilac, white or pink.  Nutlets pale brown, smooth or weakly foveolate" (Davis et al., 1984).

"Erect herb with mint-odorous foliage; stems 4-angled, pubescent; leaves ovate or lanceolate, serrate, puberulent on the nerves dorsally, usually 2-5 cm long; flowers in dense vericillasters; calyx densely puberulent externally, about 2 mm long, the 5 teeth slender deltoid; corolla pale violet, puberulent externally and internally, 4-5 mm long; nutlets 0.75 mm long, brown" (Stone, 1970; p. 513).

Habitat/ecology:  In Turkey, "damp places, around 1500 m" (Davis et al., 1984; p. 386).

Propagation:  Seed

Native range:  Europe, western Asia, India and Nepal (GRIN).

Presence:

Pacific
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
French Polynesia Gambier Islands	Akamaru Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Gambier Islands	Mangareva (Gambier) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Gambier Islands	Taravai Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Fatu Hiva Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2013)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Fatu Hiva Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Hiva Oa Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2013)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Hiva Oa Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Nuku Hiva (Nukahiva) Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2013)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Ua Huka (Huahuna, Uahuka) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Austral (Tubuai) Islands	Rapa Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Austral (Tubuai) Islands	Rapa Island		National Tropical Botanical Garden (U.S.A. Hawaii. Kalaheo.) (2002) (voucher ID: PTBG 42026) Taxon name on voucher: Mentha arvensis
French Polynesia Austral (Tubuai) Islands	Rurutu Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2013) Naturalisée
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Stone, Benjamin C. (1970) (p. 513)
Guam Guam Island	Guam Island	introduced	Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce (1979) (p. 241)
State of Hawaii Hawaiian Islands	Hawaiian Islands	introduced cultivated	Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. (1999) (p. 806)
Philippines Philippine Islands	Philippine Islands	introduced cultivated	Merrill, Elmer D. (1923) (p. 413) Widely scattered in cultivation.
Solomon Islands Solomon Islands	Solomon Islands	introduced cultivated	Hancock, I. R./Henderson, C. P. (1988) (p. 91)

Pacific Rim
Country/Terr./St. & Island group	Location	Cited status & Cited as invasive & Cited as cultivated & Cited as aboriginal introduction?	Reference & Comments
China China	China (People's Republic of)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 234)
Indonesia Indonesia	Indonesia (Republic of)		Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (p. 67)
Japan Japan	Japan		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 234)
Japan Japan	Japan	introduced	Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro (2004) (p. 188) var. arvensis and var. canadensis Briquet
New Zealand New Zealand	New Zealand (country)	introduced invasive cultivated	Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. (1988) (p. 778) "Waste places in settlements".
Vietnam Vietnam	Vietnam (Socialist Republic of)		Waterhouse, D. F. (1993) (p. 67)

Comments:  Reported invasive in southeast Asia (Barbara Waterhouse, pers. com.).

Control:  If you know of control methods for Mentha arvensis, please let us know.