Tumble Weed

The plants have a strong minty odor and are burned to repel mosquitos. An infusion of leaves is used for gastrointestinal troubles.

Herbs annual, erect, to 60 cm tall. Stems retrorse pubescent. Petiole 0.7-1.5 cm; leaf blade ovate to lanceolate, 4-6 × 1.5-3 cm, reduced upward, densely pubescent, base rounded to cuneate, margin coarsely crenate-serrate, apex acuminate, lateral veins 5 pairs. Verticillasters 1.5-2 cm in diam. in flower, ca. 3 cm in diam. in fruit, many flowered; bracts subulate, ciliate, spinescent. Calyx membranous in fruit, ca. 1 cm, densely villous outside, glabrous inside, veins conspicuous, distinctly net veined; throat enlarged, mouth constricted, oblique; teeth unequal, spinescent, upper teeth longest. Corolla white tinged red, slightly exserted, slender, ca. 8 mm; tube ca. 7 mm, slightly dilated in throat, not villous annulate inside; lower lip subpatent, lobes oblong. Nutlets dark brown, oblong-ovoid, ca. 1.5 mm, shiny. Fl. Sep-Oct, fr. Nov.

Yunnan [India, Myanmar; Africa, North America, South America]

Grassy areas, waste land near habitations; 1100-1500 m.

Clinopodium martinicense Jacquin, Enum. Syst. Pl. 25. 1760.