Common names:
Grey mint, frosted mint
Family:
Scientific name:
Poliomintha incana
Main flower color:
Range:
The Four Corners states, plus far west Texas
Height:
Up to 3 feet
Habitat:
Rocky or sandy places in semi-deserts, from 3,500 to 6,500 feet
Leaves:
Opposite, narrowly elliptic to linear, up to 0.7 inches long
Season:
April to September
Poliomintha incana is an aromatic shrub, with a strong smell of mint, producing few to many stems, square-in cross-section, to heights of between 1 and 3 feet. Plants can form large clumps, with an overall rounded appearance. Leaves are simple, narrow, angled upwards, and have a prominent midvein. Stems and leaves have a light to dense covering of short hairs. Leaves are stalkless, and those higher up the stem are smaller.
Flowers are produced in whorled clusters of up to six, from the upper leaf nodes, which are quite well-separated. They have a purplish calyx, the tube two to three times as long as the lobes, and a pale pink or light blue corolla, with a protruding upper lip and a larger, reflexed, three-lobed lower lip. The center of the lower lip is flecked with small purple dots. The calyx is covered by long, greyish hairs. At the center of the flower are two stamens and one pistil.
Flowers are produced in whorled clusters of up to six, from the upper leaf nodes, which are quite well-separated. They have a purplish calyx, the tube two to three times as long as the lobes, and a pale pink or light blue corolla, with a protruding upper lip and a larger, reflexed, three-lobed lower lip. The center of the lower lip is flecked with small purple dots. The calyx is covered by long, greyish hairs. At the center of the flower are two stamens and one pistil.
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