1614 Mentha arvensis L.

This polymorphic species is widely distributed in Eurasia and N. America. Subsp. vulgaris occurs in most of the range. AN. European type is subsp. lapponica (Wahlenb.) Neum. The E. Asiatic population is distinguished as subsp. piperascens (Malinv.) Hara. In N. America there is, besides M. arvensis s. str. (both native and introduced populations), an aberrant type, viz. subsp. canadensis (L.) Hara (syn.: var. villosa [Benth.] Stewart). The species (various taxa) has been introduced as a weed into N. and C. America, Java, New Zealand etc., sometimes in connection with cultivation of the plant. The species s. lat. belongs to the circumpolar plants (Hultén, Circumpol. Il, p. 308 and map 299). Cf. also Meusel et al. 1978, map p. 384.