Hedeoma pulegioides

Taxobox
name = "Hedeoma pulegioides"

---

image_width = 225px
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Lamiales
familia = Lamiaceae
genus = "Hedeoma"
species = "H. pulegioides"
binomial = "Hedeoma pulegioides"
binomial_authority = (L.) Pers.

"Hedeoma pulegioides" (American Pennyroyal, or American False PennyroyalUSDA Plants Profile: [http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HEPU "Hedeoma pulegioides"] . Accessed June 19 2007.] ) is a species of "Hedeoma" native to eastern North America, from Nova Scotia and southern Ontario west to Minnesota and South Dakota, and south to northern Georgia and Arkansas.Germplasm Resources Information Network: [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?316705 "Hedeoma pulegioides"] ]

It is a low-growing, strongly aromatic herbaceous annual plant from 15–30 cm tall, with a slender erect much-branched, somewhat hairy and square stem. The leaves are small, thin, and rather narrow, with a strong mintlike odor and pungent taste. The flowers are pale blue, hermaphroditic, produced in small clusters; it flowers from mid to late summer.Plants for a Future: [http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Hedeoma+pulegioides "Hedeoma pulegioides"] . Accessed June 19 2007.]

Other names are mock pennyroyal, squaw mint, tickweed, stinking balm, mosquito plant, American falsepennyroyal, and American false pennyroyal.NEWCrop [http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/herbhunters/pennyroyal.html USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 77: The Herb Hunters Guide: American Medicinal Plants of Commercial Importance] . NEWCrop's online transcription of the 1930 USDA publication March 11 1998. Accessed June 19 2007.] The name "pulegioides" is derived from the Latin "pulegium" and "oides", and means "like pennyroyal".Griffith, Chuck. [http://www.winternet.com/~chuckg/dictionary/dictionary.150.html "Dictionary of Botanical Epithets"] . Accessed June 19 2007.] "Hedeoma pulegiodes" is also known by the synonyms "Melissa pulegioides" L. (basionym), "Cunila pulegioides" (L.) L., and "Ziziphora pulegioides" (L.) Desf.BONAP (Biota of North America Program). [http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/ruled_html_query?colldir=kartesz%2Fmgdata&collname=bonap98&query=Hedeoma+pulegioides Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands] . Accessed June 19 2007.]

The term "Pennyroyal" (or "Pennyrile", from a dialectal pronunciation) is also used to describe a geographic province of western Kentucky, the Pennyroyal Plateau, where "H. pulegioides" grew in profusion sufficient to lend its name to the whole area.

References

See also

*Pennyroyal