Spear Mint - Mentha spicata

Medium to tall, green or greyish plant, strongly and sweetly aromatic. Leaves lanceolate to narrowly ovate, sharply toothed, flowers pinkish, purplish or white 2 to 3.5 mm long in a long dense spike, sometimes branched.

other mints, including hybrids and garden varieties

Damp habitats.

July to October.

Perennial.

Widely naturalised in Britain, but rather occasional and local. It is classed as an 'archaeophyte' (ancient introduction).

It is scarce as a wild plant in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 28 of the 617 tetrads.