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Field mint flowers occur in whorls of about 20 above the axils of the upper leaves. Individual flowers are 1/8" long with a green calyx with small triangular lobes; a tubular, lavender, pink, or white corolla with a two-lobed upper lip and a lower lip with 0-3 lobes; four stamens protruding well beyond the tips of the flower; and a style longer than the stamens. The fruit consists of four small nutlets nestled in the flower calyx, each with a single seed. Field mint is a very widely-distributed (circumboreal) plant. Field mint is similar to Virginia bugleweed (Lycopus virginicus) in that both have flowers in whorls in the axils of paired, opposite leaves, but the latter has only white flowers in much sparser whirls with two stamens no longer than the tips of the flower. Field mint could possibly be confused with motherwort (Leonurus cardiaca) but the latter has distinctive three or five lobed angular-cleft leaves and lacks the boldly-protruding stamens of field mint. Finally, some sources (and plant ID apps) identify "Mentha canadensis" as occurring in Illinois and neighboring states. However, both ITIS (https://www.itis.gov/) and the USDA plants database (https://plants.usda.gov/) agree that the name "Mentha canadensis," often applied to this species, is invalid and a junior synonym of Mentha arvensis (field mint).

Mentha

Mentha arvensis

field mint [Blooms: Jun-Sep]