Flora of New Zealand Series

native mint

Gynodioecious perennial; stems ± creeping, very slender, branched, puberulent, especially on angles. Lvs sessile or with short hairy petioles to 4 mm long. Lamina 2-15 × 2-15 mm, broad-ovate to suborbicular, not rugose, entire or shallowly crenate, dotted with glands and usually glabrous except for nerves on lower surface; base broad-cuneate or truncate; apex rounded. Fls axillary, in clusters of 1-2-(3); pedicels prominent, puberulent. Calyx 3-4 mm long, narrow-campanulate, densely hairy and with glandular dots; teeth triangular, ciliate, much < tube, acute. Corolla c. 6 mm long, white, glabrous; tube not exserted; lobes subequal; uppermost lobe ± 2-fid. Stamens ± exserted. Nutlets 1-1.3 mm long, ± broad-ellipsoid, slightly angled, smooth.

N.; S.; St.; Ch.

Endemic.

Lowland to high montane grassland and open habitats, such as cliffs, river banks, lakesides, sometimes in swampy ground.

FL Nov-Apr.