Nepeta mussinii Henckel
catmint
Densely hairy perennial, forming low spreading dense clumps. Petioles 1-2 cm long. Lamina c. 1.5-2.5 × 1-1.5 cm, ovate, grey-tomentose above and below, ± crenate; base subcordate or cordate; apex obtuse. Infl. terminal, spike-like, spreading to suberect, diffuse. Calyx 5-7 mm long, tomentose, often bluish; teeth lanceolate. Corolla 9-11 mm long to apex of erect upper lip, blue or mauve-blue with purplish dots on lower lip; tube ± curved, > calyx, tomentose outside; upper lip with 2 rounded lobes, tomentose outside; lower lip glabrous towards apex, otherwise tomentose. Anthers violet-blue. Style violet-blue towards apex. Nutlets c. 2 mm long, oblong, dark brown, obtusely ridged down central side.
S.: Canterbury (Cheviot, Christchurch).
Caucasia 1958
Casual escape from cultivation, occasional on roadsides and in waste places near gardens.
FL Nov-Apr.
Two or 3 cvs are grown, but as in Europe and N. America most of the plants grown as this sp. are N. × faassenii Stearn, a sterile hybrid between N. mussinii and most probably N. nepetella L. The hybrid is more ornamental than N. mussinii and has a more suitable habit for making border edges; it is distinguishable by the lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate lvs with a ± truncate base. N. × faassenii has been collected as a relic of cultivation (e.g., CHR 252944, Mt Cook National Park, near the Hermitage, Wilson, 7.4.1972).
