Mentha arvensis L., Lamiaceae

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Present on Pacific Islands?  yes

Primarily a threat at high elevations?  no

Other Latin names:  Mentha gentilis L.

Common name(s): [more details]

Chamorro: yerba buena

English: corn mint, European 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. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Gambier Islands	Mangareva (Gambier) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Gambier Islands	Taravai Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Fatu Hiva Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Fatu Hiva Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Hiva Oa Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Hiva Oa Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Nuku Hiva (Nukahiva) Island	introduced cultivated	Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. (2008)
French Polynesia Marquesas Islands	Ua Huka (Huahuna, Uahuka) Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Society Islands	Tahiti Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) Naturalisée
French Polynesia Austral (Tubuai) Islands	Rapa Island	introduced invasive	Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. (2011) 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. (2011) 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 (country)		Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. (1979) (p. 234)
Japan Japan	Japan (country)	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.).

Additional information:
Additional online information about Mentha arvensis is available from the Hawaiian Ecosystems at Risk project (HEAR).

Information about Mentha arvensis as a weed (worldwide references) may be available from the Global Compendium of Weeds (GCW).

Taxonomic information about Mentha arvensis may be available from the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).

References:

Davis, P. H./Mill, R. R./Tan, Kit, eds. 1965. Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands. Edinburgh, University Press. 1965-1988, 10 vols.

Florence, J./Chevillotte, H./Ollier, C./Meyer, J.-Y. 2011. Base de données botaniques Nadeaud de l'Herbier de la Polynésie Française (PAP). (online resource).

Fosberg, F. R./Sachet, Marie-Hélène/Oliver, Royce. 1979. A geographical checklist of the Micronesian dicotyledonae. Micronesica 15:1-295.

Hancock, I. R./Henderson, C. P. 1988. Flora of the Solomon Islands. Research Bulletin No. 7. Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Honiara. 203 pp.

Holm, Leroy/Pancho, Juan V./Herberger, James P./Plucknett, Donald L. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 391 pp.

Lorence, David H./Wagner, Warren L. 2008. Flora of the Marquesas Islands. National Tropical Botanical Garden and the Smithsonian Institution. Online database.

Merrill, Elmer D. 1923. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, vol. 3 [reprint]. Bureau of Printing, Manila. 628 pp.

Mito, Toshikazu/Uesugi, Tetsuro. 2004. Invasive alien species in Japan: the status quo and the new regulation for prevention of their adverse effects. Global Environmental Research 8(2)/2004: 171-191.

Stone, Benjamin C. 1970. The flora of Guam. Micronesica 6:1-659.

U.S. Dept. Agr., Agr. Res. Serv. 2011. National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Online searchable database.

Wagner, Warren L./Herbst, Derral R./Sohmer, S. H. 1999. Manual of the flowering plants of Hawaii. Revised edition. Bernice P. Bishop Museum special publication. University of Hawai‘i Press/Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu. 1919 pp. (two volumes).

Waterhouse, D. F. 1993. The major arthropod pests and weeds of agriculture in Southeast Asia. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra. 141 pp.

Webb, C. J./Sykes, W. R./Garnock-Jones, P. J. 1988. Flora of New Zealand, Volume IV: Naturalised pteridophytes, gymnosperms, dicotyledons. Botany Division, DSIR, Christchurch. 1365 pp.