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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Hoary Mountain Mint


Here's an interesting plant. I stumbled into a large patch of it yesterday. It's too late in the season to see the flowers, but the seed heads are really more interesting. In the first picture, you can see how it grows.

hoary mountain mint

It almost look like it has purple blossoms, doesn't it? But those are the seedheads. Here's one a little closer. It's Hoary Mountain Mint, Pycnanthemum incanum. I had to decide between Hoary and Hairy Mountain Mint. But the clincher is that the leaves are definitely stalked. If I blew up one of the pictures a lot, the stalks were definitely visible, but it wouldn't make a great picture.

hoary mountain mint

It looks prickly! Actually, it isn't really; it's more soft than pokey. Look at all the silky hairs.

hoary mountain mint

I will try to get a picture of the flowers next year. I think I can approach this location from the other side and avoid the poison ivy.

It rained most all day, so I was glad to have a leftover plant to show you!

Hey, Ivy had her baby. You can read about it at her sister Chip's blog Swirly Ageless Mind

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7 comments:

rainfield61 said...

Congratulation to Ivy.

And it is so good that this Ivy is not that Ivy (poison ivy).

(smile).

Interesting Pictures said...

nice shot

Ann said...

Congratulations to Ivy.
I like the look of the seedheads and they do indeed look very prickly

Secondary Roads said...

Do the leaves have a "minty" odor?

john bain said...

Hope you didn't literally stumble into that mint.

Sharkbytes said...

rainfield! What a great observation. I missed that close positioning of the words.

IP- Thanks- sometimes my Super Macro pix work well, sometimes not so much

Ann- it's a fine line between prickles and downy, isn't it?

Chuck- they do, but not as good as the plants in the Mentha genus. These are relatives, but there are hundreds of plants in the mint family

John- NO... I was trying hard not to roll in the greenery!

RNSANE said...

My poor son, Jeremy, just needs to be in the vicinity of poison oak to get covered in a rash. Glad you are not so sensitive to poison ivy.

Nice shot. The seed head does, indeed, look like it might give you a stick!