Pycnanthemum is a genus of plants in the mint family (Lamiaceae). They are commonly known as mountain mints (or mountain-mints, mountainmints), though "the Mountain Mint" may also be any locally common species in particular. Some are known as koellias, after an obsolete genus name.

All of the approximately 20 species in this genus are native to North America. Most are very strongly scented and pungent, and are used in cooking and in making herbal tea. Indeed, like the true mints (Mentha) they belong to the tribe Mentheae of subfamily Nepetoideae. However, while the mountainmints are a highly advanced genus most probably closest to the bee balms (Monarda), which are also endemic to North America, the true mints are part of a more basal and largely European radiation of this tribe.

Species

Mountainmint species are:^[1]

• Pycnanthemum albescens Torr. & A.Gray – White-leaved Mountainmint
• Pycnanthemum beadlei (Small) Fernald
• Pycnanthemum californicum – Sierra Mint
• Pycnanthemum clinopodioides
• Pycnanthemum curvipes (Greene) E.Grant & Epling
• Pycnanthemum flexuosum (Walter) Britton et al.^{[verification needed]}
• Pycnanthemum floridanum E.Grant & Epling – Florida Mountainmint
• Pycnanthemum incanum – Hoary Mountainmint, "hoary basil", "wild basil"
• Pycnanthemum loomisii Nutt. – Loomis' Mountainmint
• Pycnanthemum monotrichum
• Pycnanthemum montanum Michx.
• Pycnanthemum muticum (Michx.) Pers.– Short-toothed Mountainmint
• Pycnanthemum nudum
• Pycnanthemum pilosum Nutt. (sometimes in P. verticillatum)
• Pycnanthemum pycnanthemoides (Leavenw.) Fernald – Southern Mountainmint
• Pycnanthemum setosum Nutt. – Awned Mountainmint
• Pycnanthemum tenuifolium – Little-leaved Mountainmint, Slender-leaved Mountainmint (= P. flexuosum auct. non Walter)
• Pycnanthemum torreyi^{[verification needed]} Benth. – Torrey's Mountainmint
• Pycnanthemum verticillatum (Michx.) Pers. – Whorled Mountainmint
• Pycnanthemum virginianum – Virginia Mountainmint

Footnotes

References

• United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (2007): Germplasm Resources Information Network – Pycnanthemum. Version of 2007-OCT-05. Retrieved 2011-FEB-18.