Penard mint is an aromatic perennial having a somewhat penny- 

 royallike odor, small, rose-pink flowers in axillary whorls, opposite 

 leaves, and 4-angled stems. Unfortunately, this common western 

 mint is disguised in botanical literature under a variety of aliases. 

 Some botanists prefer to regard it as a smooth, short-leafstalked, 

 native variety of the introduced, Old World field mint (M. arven'sis) 

 and call it M. arven'sis penar'di (syn. M. arven'sis glabra'ta). 

 Others regard it as a smooth, broader-leaved variety of the native 

 Canada mint (M. canaden'sis, syns. M. 'borea'lis^ M. canaden'sis 

 borea'lis) and call it M. canaden'sis glabra'ta. Some ultraconserva- 

 tive botanists prefer to merge it in either the European M. arven'sis 

 or in the American M. canaden'sis. Still others, of a more radical 

 school of thought, prefer to separate M. penar'di itself into addi- 

 tional species, including M. gla'brior, M. occidenta'lis, and M. 

 rubel'la. This confusion of names has resulted because some of the 

 mints hybridize readily, producing intergrading forms, which are 

 extremely difficult to classify. 



Penard mint, named for E. Penard, a Swiss botanist who col- 

 lected plants in the Western States in the 1890's, ranges from British 

 Columbia to Saskatchewan, Nebraska, New Mexico, and California, 

 occurring chiefly in wet or, at least, moist soils along streams, 

 around springs and seeps, and in similar situations. It character- 

 istically grows among bushes and probably is most abundant in the 

 ponderosa-pine belt, although it occurs from the desert-shrub belt 

 to the spruce-fir. Generally, Penard mint occurs scatteringly, al- 

 though locally it is common or even abundant. On the bulk of the 

 western ranges, however, its scarcity relegates this species to an 

 unimportant place among range plants. 



The palatability of Penard mint undoubtedly varies somewhat, 

 as it is rated from fair to fairly good for cattle and from fair to 

 good for sheep. The bulk of opinion, however, designates this 

 species as seldom better than fair forage for cattle, sheep, and 

 goats. It is practically worthless as horse forage, and probably 

 is of negligible value as game feed. 



MINTS (Men'thaspp.) 



The mints constitute a genus of aromatic perennial herbs having 

 opposite leaves, four-angled stems, and numerous, relatively small 

 flowers in dense axillary or terminal clusters. Some of the species 

 hybridize freely, producing numerous intergrading forms, which 

 has caused much confusion about names and considerable doubt as 

 to the number of species. On a conservative nomenclatural basis 

 there are approximately 30 species, all natives of the Northern Hemi- 

 sphere. Including the native and naturalized species, approximately 

 15 species occur in the United States, with probably not more than 

 4 native to the West. The genus belongs to the mint family 

 (Menthaceae) and derives its name from the Greek, minthe, the 

 name applied by the Greek philosopher Theophrastus to one of 

 these plants. Minthe was the name of a nymph, fabled to have been 

 changed into a mint plant by Proserpine. 



