Description
Meehania cordata, commonly called Meehan’s mint or creeping mint, is a stoloniferous, mat-forming mint that resembles in appearance the common lawn and garden weed known as gill-over-the-ground or ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), but it does not exhibit the very aggressive tendencies of the latter. It is native from western Pennsylvania to North Carolina, Tennessee and Illinois, where it typically occurs in rich woods and wooded slopes. This is a low-growing perennial with trailing square stems and opposite broadly heart shaped green leaves (to 1” long) with crenate margins. Hooded, two-lipped, lavender blue flowers bloom in mid to late spring. Flowers (to 1” long) are somewhat large for the plant, appearing in upright 3-inch spikes on stems rising to 4-6” tall. Specific epithet means heart-shaped in reference to the leaves.
