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Slender mountain-mint flowers occur in small terminal clusters at the tips of the upper stems with distinctive very long, narrow bracts with spine-like tips just beneath the clusters; the bracts are densely covered with short, curled hairs on the blade and longer, bristly hairs along the margins. Individual flowers are tubular, white with scattered purple dots, and about 1/4" long; there is a calyx that is divided several slender green lobes. The corolla is divided into two parts, an upper lip and a lower lip that is divided into three lobes. The four stamens and two styles are also white, but the anthers are purple. The styles have a bifurcated stigma. Slender mountain mint is very similar to Virginia mountain mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum), but several characters make it straightforward to distinguish them. Leaves on slender mountain mints are always less than 1/4" wide and the stems are hairless; Virginia mountain mint will have the larger leaves more than 1/4" wide and has lines of white hairs on the stems. Slender mountain blooms earlier than Virginian mountain mint, but the blooming period of the two species overlaps. All parts of slender mountain mint give off a strong mint-like odor when crushed, but please restrain yourself from excessive foliage-crushing — it's not polite.

Pycnanthemum

Pycnanthemum tenuifolium

slender mountain-mint [Blooms: Jun-Aug]

Virginia mountain-mint flower heads are 3/4-1" across with up to 50 flowers; only a few flowers open at any one time. The flowers are hairy on the outer surfaces, white to light purple in color. Individual flowers are 1/4" across, tubular, and two-lipped; the lower lip is three-lobed with purple spots; four stamens with purple anthers emerge from the lower tube. There are two styles with deeply-notched tips that extend well beyond the edges of the lips of the corolla. The calyx that cups the flower is hairy, light green and has five triangular teeth.

Pycnanthemum

Pycnanthemum virginianum

Virginia mountain-mint [Blooms: Jul-Aug]