Summary

Did you know?

The genus name Blephilia comes from the long hairs on the bracts of the inflorescence that look like eyelashes. This attractive mint is sometimes planted in gardens for its fragrance, beauty and ability to attract butterflies and bees.

State Ranking Justification

There are two existing populations and nine historical populations scattered throughout upstate New York.

Short-term Trends

The short term trend seems to be stable, although the disturbed habitats where the plant occurs can fluctuate in areas that are suitable for growth.

Long-term Trends

This plant was never common in the state but it was known historically from nine occurrences in seven counties from Westchester to Ontario counties in the late 1800s and early 1900s when there was much more open habitat in the state. Populations probably remained low throughout the 1900s and now only two existing populations remain.

Conservation and Management

Threats

Plants occur in an old field and a disturbed powerline right-of-way where weedy plant management may affect the viability of these populations. The open habitat of these sites could alternately be threatened by a succession of the open habitat if it is not protected or by too much mowing or weed management that could destroy the plants.

Conservation Strategies and Management Practices

These sites need to be managed to prevent succession of woody species while at the same time preventing destruction by mowing at the incorrect time or through the use of herbicides.

Research Needs

These plants seem to grow in disturbed habitat that is common throughout the limestone areas of the state but it is unknown why this plant is only found in a couple of these sites. A thorough study of habitat preference and plant dispersal is needed.

Habitat

Habitat

The few extant sites for this species in New York consist of disturbed areas (fields and powerlines) with shallow soil over limestone (New York Natural Heritage Program 2007). Oak woodlands and borders; thickets, banks, and clearings; meadows, borders of fens, thin soil over limestone (Voss 1996). Dry woods, thickets and openings (Fernald 1970). Woods (Gleason & Cronquist 1991).

Associated Ecological Communities

• Calcareous cliff community* (guide)
  A community that occurs on vertical exposures of resistant, calcareous bedrock (such as limestone or dolomite) or consolidated material; these cliffs often include ledges and small areas of talus. * probable association but not confirmed.
• Calcareous red cedar barrens* (guide)
  A small-patch calcareous rocky summit community occurring on dry, south-facing to southwest-facing slopes and low summits. These sites are characterized by stunted, sparse woodlands with small grassland openings. * probable association but not confirmed.
• Calcareous talus slope woodland* (guide)
  An open or closed canopy community that occurs on talus slopes composed of calcareous bedrock such as limestone or dolomite. The soils are usually moist and loamy; there may be numerous rock outcrops. * probable association but not confirmed.
• Limestone woodland* (guide)
  A woodland that occurs on shallow soils over limestone bedrock in non-alvar settings, and usually includes numerous rock outcrops. There are usually several codominant trees, although one species may become dominant in any one stand. * probable association but not confirmed.
• Northern white cedar rocky summit* (guide)
  A community that occurs on cool, dry, rocky ridgetops and summits where the bedrock is calcareous (such as limestone or dolomite), and the soils are more or less calcareous. The vegetation may be sparse or patchy, with numerous rock outcrops. The species have predominantly boreal distributions. * probable association but not confirmed.
• Rich graminoid fen* (guide)
  A wetland of mostly grasses usually fed by water from highly calcareous springs or seepage. These waters have high concentrations of minerals and high pH values, generally from 6.0 to 7.8. Plant remains do not decompose rapidly and these grasses usually grow on older, undecomposed plant parts. * probable association but not confirmed.

Associated Species

• Anemone virginiana (tall anemone, thimbleweed)
• Cornus sericea (red-osier dogwood)
• Leucanthemum vulgare (ox-eye daisy)
• Lotus corniculatus (common bird's-foot-trefoil)
• Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
• Monarda
• Oligoneuron rigidum
• Prunella vulgaris
• Rudbeckia hirta (common black-eyed Susan)
• Solidago caesia
• Solidago juncea (early goldenrod)
• Solidago nemoralis

Range

New York State Distribution

Downy wood-mint is known primarily from the Hudson Valley from Westchester County to Albany County, with a single historical location from Broome County in Western New York.

Global Distribution

Blephilia ciliata is known from Ontario, New York, and Western New England, through the midwestern and southern states, ranging as far south as Georgia, and reaching the western limit of its distribution in Texas, Kansas, and Iowa.

Identification Comments

General Description

Blephilia ciliata is an opposite-leaved, herbaceous wildflower, the stem covered in short (less than .5mm long) hairs. The flowers are 11 to 14 mm long, are two-lipped, and have pale blue petals with purple spots. These occur in one or several hemispheric (ball-shaped) clusters along the stem, subtended by numerous, finely hairy bracts. These bracts are ovate and about as long as the calyx. The leaves are 3 to 6 cm long, entire or toothed, sessile or nearly so, and smell strongly of mint when crushed.

Similar Species

Blephilia hirsuta has a stem with hairs 1-2 mm long, and the leaves of its flowering stem have a petiole of 1 cm or more. The bracts are shorter than the calyx, and lower calyx lobes are 1 mm or less, not reaching the sinuses of the upper lip.

Downy wood-mint may also be initially mistaken for the very common species Prunella vulgaris, which has longer petioles, 3 stamens (in contrast to Blephilia's 2 stamens), and a less cleft calyx (Voss 1997).

Best Time to See

Flowers mid-June through October.

Downy Wood Mint Images

Blephilia ciliata
Stephen M. Young

Blephilia ciliata inflorescence
Stephen M. Young

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Taxonomy

Downy Wood Mint
Blephilia ciliata (L.) Benth.

• Kingdom Plantae
  • Phylum Anthophyta
    • Class Dicotyledoneae (Dicots)
      • Order Lamiales
        • Family Lamiaceae (Mint Family)

Additional Resources

References

Fernald, M.L. 1950. Gray's manual of botany. 8th edition. D. Van Nostrand, New York. 1632 pp.

Gleason, Henry A. and A. Cronquist. 1991. Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York. 910 pp.

Holmgren, Noel. 1998. The Illustrated Companion to Gleason and Cronquist's Manual. Illustrations of the Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.

New York Natural Heritage Program. 2023. New York Natural Heritage Program Databases. Albany, NY.

Reschke, Carol. 1990. Ecological communities of New York State. New York Natural Heritage Program, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Latham, NY. 96 pp. plus xi.

Weldy, T. and D. Werier. 2010. New York flora atlas. [S.M. Landry, K.N. Campbell, and L.D. Mabe (original application development), Florida Center for Community Design and Research http://www.fccdr.usf.edu/. University of South Florida http://www.usf.edu/]. New York Flora Association http://newyork.plantatlas.usf.edu/, Albany, New York

Links

• Google Images
• Illinois Wildflowers
• Missouri Plants
• NatureServer Explorer
• New York Flora Atlas
• University of Wisconsin Herbarium
• USDA Plants Database

About This Guide

Information for this guide was last updated on: January 18, 2008

Please cite this page as:
New York Natural Heritage Program. 2023. Online Conservation Guide for Blephilia ciliata. Available from: https://guides.nynhp.org/downy-wood-mint/. Accessed June 6, 2023.