Hedeoma pulegioides

American pennyroyal

Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Hedeoma
Species:
H. pulegioides
Binomial name
Hedeoma pulegioides
Distribution map[2]
Synonyms[3]
  • Cunila pulegioides L.
  • Melissa pulegioides (L.) L.
  • Ziziphora pulegioides (L.) Desf.

Hedeoma pulegioides, also known as American pennyroyal or American false pennyroyal,[4] is a species of Hedeoma native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia and southern Ontario west to Minnesota and South Dakota, and south to northern Georgia and Arkansas.[5]

It is a low-growing, strongly aromatic herbaceous annual plant from 15 to 30 cm tall, with a slender erect much-branched, somewhat hairy and square stem. The leaves are small, thin, and rather narrow, with a strong mintlike odor and pungent taste. The flowers are pale blue, monoecious, produced in small clusters; it flowers from mid to late summer.[6]

Other names are mock pennyroyal, squaw mint, tickweed, stinking balm, mosquito plant, American falsepennyroyal, and American false pennyroyal.[6][7]

The term "pennyroyal" (or pennyrile, from a dialectal pronunciation) is also used to describe a geographic province of western Kentucky, the Pennyroyal Plateau, where H. pulegioides grew in profusion sufficient to lend its name to the whole area.

  1. ^ "Comprehensive Report Species – Hedeoma pulegioides". NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life [web application]. 7.1. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe Inc. Retrieved 5 January 2014.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Plants profile for Hedeoma pulegioides (American false pennyroyal)". Plants Database. United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  3. ^ "Synonyms of American False Pennyroyal (Hedeoma pulegioides)". Encyclopedia of Life. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  4. ^ USDA Plants Profile: Hedeoma pulegioides. Accessed June 19, 2007.
  5. ^ "Hedeoma pulegioides". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  6. ^ a b Plants for a Future: Hedeoma pulegioides. Accessed June 19, 2007.
  7. ^ NEWCrop USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 77: The Herb Hunters Guide: American Medicinal Plants of Commercial Importance. NEWCrop's online transcription of the 1930 USDA publication March 11, 1998. Accessed June 19, 2007.