Mountain Mint

Pycnanthemum albescens

Size: 1g availability

Flower
Max size: 3′ tall x 2′ wide
Average size: 3′ x 2′ wide

Usually Moist
Clay, Sand
Sun, Part Shade
No Salt Tolerance

AKA: Whiteleaf Mountain Mint

A native and shrubby perennial of the mint family that blooms from July to September with pink or white flowers. It attracts a variety of bees. Its leaves can be used to make a mint leaf tea, or dried to make a smudge stick, fragrance, herb bundle, and incense.

A common modern use is for insect repellant from mosquitoes, ticks, chiggers, no-see-ums, gnats, and biting flies. Methods include drying it as potpourri, rubbing a leaf onto your skin, a DIY bug spray, or butting a satchet in closets and drawers to keep away moths. The leaves can also be made into a concoction to treat colds. Koasati put the whole plant in water and used it to treat nosebleeds, and there are still many uses for the plant. They make a valuable poultice for treating cuts, scrapes, bruises, stings, and bites. Thrown in bath water they help to soothe skin irritation from conditions like eczema, rashes, and such. A decoction, which concentrates the antiseptic biochemicals present in the foliage, has traditionally been used to treat infected and festering wounds.