Mystery Plant: Spotted horse-mint, Monarda punctata

Such a wonderful Mystery Plant this week: a real treat for the eyes, as well as the nose.

It’s a native member of the mint family, starting to bloom about now, in the late summer. It is somewhat woody, especially toward the base, the sort of plant you might call a “subshrub”. Of course, the leaves are opposite, like everything in the mint family. Its foliage is characterized by a strong, musky sort of sweetness. A number of aromatic compounds are made in the leaves and stored in the various glands present on the leaf surface. (This is where the fragrance comes from.) It's a very characteristic, smoky scent, and to me doesn't smell like anything else. Definitely not "mint"... some people will say it’s stinky, and certainly not minty, as in that green stuff that goes into your iced tea. This brings up a matter about understanding plant families. Sometimes when we botanists speak of the mint “family,” listeners sometimes infer that all the members of the family are “mint,” which isn’t so. The mint family, of course, is a huge one, with many thousands of species. The true mints are members of the genus Mentha. Referring to a plant family by its common name, such as “mint” family or “sunflower” family is a bit troubling to a stickler like me, who would prefer using the scientific names, Lamiaceae, and Asteraceae, respectively. Why, you could (and can) just as easily refer to the mint family as the “basil” family, just like the sunflower family could be, and sometimes is, called the “dandelion” family. It’s just that the scientific name of the family removes all doubt as to what is being discussed.