Mentha diemenica

Wild Mint, Slender Mint at O'Malley, ACT

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Identification history

Mentha diemenica	6 Feb 2018	MichaelMulvaney
Mentha diemenica	5 Feb 2018	BettyDonWood
Unidentified	5 Feb 2018	Mike

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6 comments

BettyDonWood wrote:

6 Feb 2018

It has me stumped. The flowers sort of look like Epilobium, but with the wrong number of stamens. The calyx and seed case look like Silene but the rest of the flower does not fit. I have tried keying it in the Dicot key with various assumptions but have not got to anything sensible. Someone needs to look at it in the hand.

KenT wrote:

6 Feb 2018

Betty, did you consider the very variable Mentha diemenica?

Mike wrote:

6 Feb 2018

I think you are right Ken. The leaves are a bit darker than usual. The flower looks nothing like the drawing in PlantNet NSW Flora but does look like photos on CNM - if you look closely one petal is broader has a small notch (this feature is not given in PlantNet).

BettyDonWood wrote:

6 Feb 2018

I am not 100% certain. It does not look hairy enough and keys to Mentha saturioides in Vicflora, the leaves of which are too lohg and narrow.

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

6 Feb 2018

Years ago I took a specimen from Red Hill looking very much like this to the Bot Gardens and Mentha diemenica was the verdict.

Mike wrote:

6 Feb 2018

I have cropped and enlarged a photo which shows a hairy calyx matching PlantNet M. diemenica: "Branches and calyx hairy; flowers in 3–8-flowered clusters per leaf axil; leaves ovate, often angular-ovate, rarely narrow-ovate or elliptic, 0.6–2 cm long, 0.4–1.2 cm wide; margins entire or sometimes with distant shallow teeth". I couldn't load this last night because I was getting error messages.

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