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Plant Profile

Scrub Mint (Dicerandra frutescens)

The scrub mint produces purple-speckled white, tubular flowers. Photo Credit: © Billy B. Boothe

Global Rank: G1 - Critically Imperiled
Legal Status: N/A
Family: Lamiaceae
State: FL
Nature Serve ID: 1013430
Lifeform: Forb/herb
Date Inducted in National Collection: 04/04/1991

Description:

Dicerandra frutescens is very similar in appearance to D. chrismanii, but D. frutescens, or scrub mint as it is often called, has a minty aroma rather than a menthol smell. The scrub mint, a short-lived perennial, grows from a deep, stout, spreading-branching taproot to a height of 50 cm. Its branches are spreading, and sometimes prostrate. Its shoots produce stems that are either leafy and overwintering or which are flowering and die back after fruiting. (USFWS 1999). The leaves of the scrub mint vary in shape and are borne opposite one another on the stem with usually two smaller leaves at each node. The tubular flowers are borne in pairs with upper and lower lips. The pale pink with purplish-rose dots petals are 1.5 to 1.6 cm long. The plant usually flowers in September, producing fruits in four small nutlets. Reproduction is by seed (USFWS 1987).

Where is Scrub Mint (Dicerandra frutescens) located in the wild?

Habitat:

Dicerandra frutescens occurs in well-drained sand pine scrub communities on the Lake Wales Ridge of central Florida. These sands are yellow fine sand soils (USFWS 1987). In these soil types, scrub mint occurs adjacent to or within disturbed areas in sand pine scrub, oak scrub, and sandhill habitats. It occupies sites with shallow litter layers that have an incomplete, or non-existent, tree and shrub canopy (USFWS 1999).

Distribution:

There is only a very small known range of the scrub mint. It occurs on the southern portion of Lake Wales Ridge in Highlands County, and is found from just north of Lake June in Winster, south to the

States & Provinces:

Scrub Mint can be found in Florida

Which CPC Partners conserve Scrub Mint (Dicerandra frutescens)?

Bok Tower Gardens

Not Sponsored

Conservation Actions

Assigned 06/09/17

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

Not Sponsored

Assigned 06/13/17

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

Tina Stanley

05/11/2023

According to a March 2023 extract of the Florida Plant Rescue Database, Bok Tower Gardens holds 12 accessions of Dicerandra frutescens totalling approximately 114266 seeds.

09/08/2020

Archbold Biological Station is doing research on the scrub mint's breeding system, pollinators, demographic pattern, and genetic variability, as well as monitoring efforts. (Deyrup & Menges 1997)

09/08/2020

Archbold Biological Station is doing research on the scrub mint's breeding system, pollinators, demographic pattern, and genetic variability, as well as monitoring efforts. (Deyrup & Menges 1997)

09/08/2020

Archbold Biological Station is doing research on the scrub mint's breeding system, pollinators, demographic pattern, and genetic variability, as well as monitoring efforts. (Deyrup & Menges 1997)

09/08/2020

Under cultivation at Bok Tower Gardens.

Nature Serve Biotics

05/02/2017

A very narrow Florida endemic. The Florida Natural Areas Inventory contains 12 occurrence records in its database. The species is threatened by rapid residential, commercial, and agricultural development on and around the Central Ridge.

S.K. Maddox

01/01/2010

Modification and loss of habitat. Suppression of fire. Occasional removal for scientific purposes. Grows in readily accessible areas, suffers from trampling. Restricted range. (USFWS 1991)

S.K. Maddox

01/01/2010

Scrub mint is presently known from 4 localities in Highlands County. Within these localities it is found at 9 sites. Only is 1 protected and managed (at Archbold Biological Station). Archbold Biological Station estimates the total population of Dicerandra frutescens is approximately 12,000 individuals (USFWS 1999).

S.K. Maddox

01/01/2010

Under cultivation at Bok Tower Gardens. Archbold Biological Station is doing research on the scrub mint's breeding system, pollinators, demographic pattern, and genetic variability, as well as monitoring efforts. (Deyrup & Menges 1997)

S.K. Maddox

01/01/2010

Most populations are on privately owned lands. Under management plan at Archbold Biological Station. (USFWS 1999).

S.K. Maddox

01/01/2010

Surveys on protected lands and in Highlands County. Acquire or otherwise protect privately owned habitat. Protect populations on public lands. Continue ex situ conservation efforts. Enforce protective measures. Augment natural populations of D. frutescens. Continue research on life history characteristics of scrub mint. Monitor existing and reintroduced populations. Provide public information about the scrub mint. (USFWS 1999)

S.K. Maddox

01/01/2010

Conserve germ plasm; seeds are not presently in long-term storage. Maintain ex situ collection. (USFWS 1999).