Search / Plant Profile / Pycnanthemum torreyi

Plant Profile

Torrey's Mountainmint (Pycnanthemum torreyi)

Photo Credit: Michael Kunz, NCBG

Global Rank: G2 - Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Lamiaceae
State: CT, DC, DE, IL, KS, KY, MD, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, SC, TN, VA, WV
Nature Serve ID: 141413
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 03/08/1989

Description:

Perennial herbs forming clumps from rhizomes. Pycnanthemum torreyi belongs to a group of narrow leaved mountain mints, but is easily distinguished from other species within the group. The leaves are up to 15mm wide and 3x longer than wide. Flowers from in tight clusters at branch terminals in July - September and are white with tints of purple.

Where is Torrey's Mountainmint (Pycnanthemum torreyi) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Dry rocky woodlands over mafic, ultramafic or calcareous rock. Pycnanthemum torreyi occurs in open glades and barrens to partly shaded woodlands. Many reported sites are associated with utility rights of way and road cuts.

Distribution:

Pycnanthemum torreyi occurs over a wide range, historically ranging from Georgia north to New Hampshire and west to Illinois. Although widespread, historical occurrences far outnumber extant, with approximately 35 throughout the wide range. Many states now consider the species extirpated, and Nature Serve predicts the long term trend of this species in a 50-70% decline.

States & Provinces:

Torrey's Mountainmint can be found in Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia

Which CPC Partners conserve Torrey's Mountainmint (Pycnanthemum torreyi)?

North Carolina Botanical Garden

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 10/28/19

CPC's Plant Sponsorship Program provides long term stewardship of rare plants in our National Collection. We are so grateful for all our donors who have made the Plant Sponsorship Program so successful. We are in the process of acknowledging all our wonderful plant sponsorship donors on our website. This is a work in progress and will be updated regularly.

Conservation Actions

Michael Kunz

10/30/2019

Many populations of Pycnanthemum torreyi throughout its wide range are no longer know to be extant. In an effort to seed bank this declining species, the North Carolina Botanical Garden began surveys in the NC Piedmont for this species. We visited multiple sites in the summer of 2019. Two sites in utility rights of way did not have any plants present. One appears to have been continually mown for years and the other was cleared of overgrown woody vegetation in the summer of 2019. This site may still have individuals, but the current management is not beneficial to this species. A third site was small and flowered poorly due to dense shade. A forth site stretches along a utility right of way and access road through a forest managed for research and timber production. Here we found approximately 100 clumps of flowering individuals.
Nick Adams and Mike Kunz (NCBG) returned to the site in the fall of 2019 on two separate dates, successfully collecting seeds for ex situ conservation. In total, we collected approximately 15,000 seeds that will be split between NCBG’s seed bank and the National Laboratory for Genetic Resource Preservation. We will continue to monitor the other NC populations for plants and the possibility for additional seed collections in future years.