Pycnanthemum

Mountain mints
	Short-toothed mountain mint ()
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Lamiaceae
Subfamily:	Nepetoideae
Tribe:	Mentheae
Genus:	Pycnanthemum; Michx.
Synonyms
	Furera Adans. ; Brachystemum Michx. ; Koellia Moench ; Tullia Leavenw. ; Pycnanthes Raf. ;

Pycnanthemum is a genus of herbaceous plants in the mint family (Lamiaceae). Species in this genus are often referred to as "mountain mints" and they often have a minty or thyme-like aroma when crushed. All species of Pycnanthemum are native to the United States and Canada.^[1]^[2]^[3] The center of diversity for the genus is North Carolina with 13 of the 20 species having been collected therein. Nineteen of the 20 species of Pycnanthemum occur in the Eastern US and Canada, and one disjunct species (P. californicum) occurs in California and Oregon.

Pycnanthemum belongs to the true mint subtribe (Menthinae),^[4] and it has been shown to be closely related to the Monarda, Blephilia, and the scrub mints of the Southeastern United States.^[5] Relationships within the genus remain unresolved. A complicated history of polyploidization paired with cryptic morphologies makes this a challenging group for systematists.^[6]

Species[]

Torr. & A.Gray – white-leaved mountainmint – south-central US
(Small) Fernald – North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, eastern Tennessee, northern Georgia
Pycnanthemum californicum Torr. ex Durand – Sierra mint – California
Torr. & A.Gray – mid-Atlantic States, Tennessee, Indiana
Pycnanthemum curvipes (Greene) E.Grant & Epling – southeastern US
(Walter) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb. – southeastern US
E.Grant & Epling – Florida mountainmint – Florida, southern Georgia
Pycnanthemum incanum (L.) Michx. – hoary mountainmint, hoary basil, wild basil – Ontario, most of US east of the Mississippi River
Nutt. – Loomis' mountainmint – southeastern US, Ohio Valley
† Fernald – Virginia but extinct
Michx. – southern Appalachians
(Michx.) Pers. – short-toothed mountainmint – much of eastern US from east Texas to southern Maine
Pycnanthemum nudum Nutt. – Coastal Plain mountainmint – southeastern US
Nutt. ( = P. verticillatum var. pilosum) – hairy mountainmint, whorled mountainmint
(Leavenw.) Fernald – southern mountainmint – southeastern US, Ohio Valley
Nutt. – awned mountainmint – southeastern + mid-Atlantic US
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium Schrad. – little-leaved mountainmint, slender-leaved mountainmint (= P. flexuosum auct. non Walter) – Quebec, Ontario, eastern + central US
Pycnanthemum torreyi Benth. – Torrey's mountainmint – eastern + east-central US
(Michx.) Pers. – whorled mountainmint – Quebec, Ontario, eastern + central US
Pycnanthemum virginianum (L.) T.Durand & B.D.Jacks. ex B.L.Rob. – Virginia mountainmint – Quebec, Ontario, eastern + central US