Virgina Mountain-mint is said to occur throughout much of eastern and central North America.
It is not a plant I remember seeing anywhere, however, except at the Evergreen Brick Works. There it has probably been planted as part of their re-naturalization program.
Pollinating insects love it. Here is a quote from the Illinois wildflower website: "Many insects are strongly attracted to the flowers, including various bees, wasps, flies, small butterflies, and beetles. Typical visitors from these groups include honeybees, Cuckoo bees, Halictid bees, Sphecid wasps, Eumenine wasps, bee flies, Tachinid flies, Wedge-shaped beetles, and Pearl Cresecent butterflies."
To this, as today's photo shows, we can definitely add bumblebees.
[Photo by D. Barr]
Pycnanthemum virginianum, at its northern limit here near Montreal. I will seek and get seeds hopefully.
ReplyDeleteI have found Pycnanthemum growing wild along the southern Lake Huron coast, near areas like the Pinery and Goderich. It is indeed very attractive to many pollinators.
ReplyDeleteThanks to both Roger and Clement. It is good to get some sense of actual localities. The published range maps are painted with such a broad brush, it is hard to get a sense of where you might actually find a given species.
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