Back east, Horsemint (Monarda punctata), a cousin of Wild Bergamot and Purple Bergamot and Scarlet Bee Balm, grows in sandy soil from Long Island southward. It even turns up in gardens. But it is nothing like the Horsemint (Agastache urticifolia) - a more distant cousin in the Mint Family (Lamiaceae) - I was going to write about in the first place.
The Horsemint I was going to write about is a western wildflower, which grows in dry, open places. Its range is from southeastern British Columbia down through eastern Washington and Oregon to California, and east to western Montana and western Colorado. I found mine growing in profusion along an open mountain trail high above the twin lakes of Twin Lakes, CA. Clearly a member of the Mint Family - square stems, opposite leaves, and a familiar-looking spike of flowers, it looks nothing like its Monarda cousins. It does look like its brethren in the Agastache genus, however, particularly another garden favorite of mine, Anise Hyssop.
It's also known as Nettleleaf Giant Hyssop, and Nettleleaf Horsemint, and though it was very abundant where I found it, it is listed as endangered in southern British Columbia. The dense spikes of flowers may vary in color from white to pink to purple. It doesn't have a sweet, minty fragrance, but more of a rugged and rough aroma, like a mint that hasn't bathed all summer.
Another mint I found blooming in California last summer was Mountain Pennyroyal ( Monardella odoratissima) ... or was it? In one field guide it's listed as Coyote Mint, but what I thought was Coyote Mint was something I found blooming a few weeks earlier, and covered with Meadow Fritillary butterflies. And then I read that Coyote Mint has many races in the west, so I guess they could both be Coyote Mint.
The first Coyote Mint, or Mountain Pennyroyal, grows on dry slopes and rocky banks from low elevations high up into the mountains. It has mostly white flowers, and the foliage has a nice minty fragrance.
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