Mentha aquaticaL.

Water Mintwater mint

WFO wfo-0000240328 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Mentha aquatica, photographed by Lee
fig. a Lee, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-27 / obs. 201038801
Mentha aquatica, photographed by Stephen James McWilliam
fig. b Stephen James McWilliam, CC0 1.0 / obs. 194643569
Mentha aquatica, photographed by Stephen James McWilliam
fig. c Stephen James McWilliam, CC0 1.0 / obs. 194491252
Mentha aquatica, photographed by Jon Mortin
fig. d Jon Mortin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194437768
Mentha aquatica, photographed by Susan Marley
fig. e Susan Marley, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 191755281
Mentha aquatica, photographed by Zeke Marshall
fig. f Zeke Marshall, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 191812013
Mentha aquatica, photographed by Иван Ковтун Ivan Kovtun
fig. g Иван Ковтун Ivan Kovtun, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 192908356
Mentha aquatica, photographed by R Clarke
fig. h R Clarke, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 190928955

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 69 botanical countries

Regions where Mentha aquatica is native: Algeria, Angola, Azores, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Libya, Madeira, Malawi, Morocco, Northern Provinces, Rwanda, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Cyprus, Iran, Krasnoyarsk, Lebanon-Syria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Palestine, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, West Siberia, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, Føroyar, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaAngolaBotswanaCape ProvincesEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLesothoLibyaMalawiMoroccoNorthern ProvincesRwandaTanzaniaTunisiaUgandaZambiaCyprusIranKrasnoyarskLebanon-SyriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPalestineTranscaucasusTürkiyeWest SiberiaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine AzoresMadeiraBalearesFøroyarSardegna
Native distribution of Mentha aquatica, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Føroyar FOR
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Angola ANG
Azores AZO
Botswana BOT
Cape Provinces CPP
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Lesotho LES
Libya LBY
Madeira MDR
Malawi MLW
Morocco MOR
Northern Provinces TVL
Rwanda RWA
Tanzania TAN
Tunisia TUN
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
Iran IRN
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
West Siberia WSB

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 753 in flower of 858 examined

Peak flowering in Feb. Each bar is the share of Mentha aquatica observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 753 of 858 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 2 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 299 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Marrubium aquaticum (L.) Uspenski
  • Mentha acuta Opiz
  • Mentha acutata Opiz
  • Mentha adspersa Moench
  • Mentha affinis Boreau
  • Mentha aquatica f. ambigua Pérard
  • Mentha aquatica f. aquatica Wimm. & Grab.
  • Mentha aquatica f. aradensis Topitz
  • Mentha aquatica f. brachiata Wimm. & Grab.
  • Mentha aquatica f. cana J.Fraser
  • Mentha aquatica f. caput-medusae (Trautm. & Urum.) Stoj., Stef. & Kitan.
  • Mentha aquatica f. citrata (Ehrh.) Fresen.
  • Mentha aquatica f. citriodora G.Mey.
  • Mentha aquatica f. cuneiformis Pérard
  • Mentha aquatica f. dubia (Chaix ex Vill.) Pérard
  • Mentha aquatica f. elegans Wimm. & Grab.
  • Mentha aquatica f. elongata Pérard
  • Mentha aquatica f. glabrata Wimm. & Grab.
  • Mentha aquatica f. glabrescens Pérard
  • Mentha aquatica f. gnaphalifrons Topitz
  • Mentha aquatica f. hirsuta (Huds.) Wimm. & Grab.
  • Mentha aquatica f. hirsuta (Huds.) Pérard
  • Mentha aquatica f. hirta Wimm. & Grab.
  • Mentha aquatica f. icmadogena Topitz

and 275 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.