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Mentha × piperita; photograph Geotourist Freiburg, CC BY-SA, via GBIF CC BY-SAGeotourist Freiburg, CC BY-SA, via GBIF

Mentha × piperita L.

Peppermint; Black peppermint; Curly mint; Hairy peppermint

Lamiaceae · Denmark, Austria +22

A hybrid: M. aquatica × M. spicata, the parents Kew's World Checklist states for it (WCVP, RBG Kew).

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Mentha × piperita, photograph Chantal van Ginkel, CC BY-SA, via GBIFMentha × piperita, photograph Chantal van Ginkel, CC BY-SA, via GBIFMentha × piperita, photograph orlagriffin, CC BY-SA, via GBIFMentha × piperita, photograph Arlei Bubniak, CC BY-SA, via GBIFMentha × piperita, photograph Christian Sapelza, CC BY-SA, via GBIFMentha × piperita, photograph Christoph Kle, CC BY-SA, via GBIF 24 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-7.9°C
Record low -18.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
22°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
845mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
4–35DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Peppermint is a hybrid species of mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world. It is occasionally found in the wild with its parent species.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Peppermint", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Mentha

Mentha, also known as mint, is a genus of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is estimated that 18 to 24 species exist, but the exact distinction between species is unclear. Hybridization occurs naturally where some species' ranges overlap. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Mentha", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (598 mm of 839 mm) takes 8 months, June to January. Mean temperature moves 16.9 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to July.

Rain

839 mm in the median year at the habitat, 598 mm of it June to January. Wettest months (2 at 78 mm), driest month April at 53 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 650 mm to 1,199 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 845 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 839 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 35 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 2, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -7.9 °C, the absolute minimum -18.8 °C, 2,486 frost nights in 44 years, 56.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 24.8 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -1.3 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -4.1 °C to 1.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 22.3 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -7.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 69% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -17 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Mentha × piperita through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 22 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -1.3 °C; 839 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°frost24.8° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-18.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125mm rainDLI 4–35RH 59–69%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 491 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C4 / 1–75 / 2–89 / 5–1113 / 10–1517 / 15–1920 / 18–2222 / 20–2522 / 20–2518 / 16–2114 / 11–168 / 6–104 / 2–7
Night °C-1 / -4–1-1 / -4–11 / -1–34 / 2–68 / 7–1011 / 10–1314 / 12–1514 / 12–1511 / 9–127 / 5–93 / 1–50 / -3–2
Rain mm70 / 44–10856 / 38–8563 / 45–9553 / 39–8669 / 55–11175 / 58–9977 / 61–10275 / 55–10270 / 54–10078 / 48–11475 / 53–11278 / 52–116
DLI6 / 3–911 / 8–1518 / 16–2328 / 26–3033 / 32–3635 / 33–3834 / 32–3929 / 27–3420 / 18–2512 / 10–167 / 4–104 / 2–8
RH %68 / 64–7165 / 62–6863 / 60–6560 / 58–6159 / 58–6160 / 58–6259 / 57–6260 / 57–6362 / 60–6565 / 63–6868 / 65–7169 / 65–72
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 491 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (547 records in those cells; 6 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 689:3858 (55.525, 12.925). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -18.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -7.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 24.8 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 491 distinct grid cells holding 547 of the 553 in-range records (6 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 689:3858 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 55.50_13.125, lapse-corrected -17 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 3 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeDenmark, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, France, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Sicilia, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, Altay, Kirgizistan, North Caucasus, Iran, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Turkey · introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Baleares, Portugal, Spain, Belarus, Baltic States, Central European Russia, East European Russia, South European Russia, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Azores, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Eritrea, Ethiopia, West Siberia, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, West Himalaya, Norfolk Is., Tasmania, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Society Is., Caroline Is., Alaska, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward I., Québec, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, California, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia, Mexico Northwest, Bermuda, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Galápagos, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Chile Central, Chile North, Falkland Is. · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker50.937, 4.337 · in the densest population, 414 records (62% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 669 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 547 of them in the land cells it reads, of 553 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 481 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 130 km away. 944 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 116 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 669 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Mentha × piperita, photograph 1did not loadMentha × piperita, photograph 2did not loadMentha × piperita, photograph 3did not loadMentha × piperita, photograph 4did not loadMentha × piperita, photograph 5did not loadMentha × piperita, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Chantal van Ginkel, CC BY-SA, via GBIF (2); orlagriffin, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Arlei Bubniak, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Christian Sapelza, CC BY-SA, via GBIF; Christoph Kle, CC BY-SA, via GBIF.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Fallopia dumetorum Fallopia dumetorum Copse-bindweed Photo: CC BY, Piotr PanekMentha × wirtgeniana Mentha × wirtgeniana Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Theodor KorsgaardPrunus × fruticans Prunus × fruticans Rosaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Marcel ArramonViburnum opulus Viburnum opulus Guelder rose Photo: CC BY, Alina BrylevaSalix × rubra Salix × rubra Green-leaf willow Photo: CC BY, Oleksandr ShynderRibes uva-crispa Ribes uva-crispa Gooseberry Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Mentha 20 in the reference

Mentha aquatica Mentha aquatica Water mint Photo: CC BY, Duarte FradeMentha arvensis Mentha arvensis Corn mint Photo: CC BY, Константин СеливёрстовMentha australis Mentha australis Australian mint Photo: CC BY, Jenny O'ConnellMentha canadensis Mentha canadensis American corn mint Photo: CC BY, elik03Mentha cervina Mentha cervina Water Spearmint Photo: CC BY, Aubin NORMANDMentha cunninghamii Mentha cunninghamii Hioi Photo: CC BY, Sean TMentha × dalmatica Mentha × dalmatica Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY, Oleksandr ShynderMentha gattefossei Mentha gattefossei Lamiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, André Karwath aka AkaMentha × gracilis Mentha × gracilis Gingermint Photo: CC0, author not statedMentha longifolia Mentha longifolia Horse Mint Photo: CC BY-SA, Andrea MologniMentha pulegium Mentha pulegium Pennyroyal Photo: CC0, author not statedMentha requienii Mentha requienii Corsican mint Photo: CC BY, Flavien Saboureau all 21 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Mentha aquatica f. piperita; Mentha aquatica var. langii; Mentha aquatica var. piperita; Mentha canescens var. schultzii; Mentha glomerata var. piperita and 4 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Mentha aquatica x spicata and Mentha aquatica × spicata is an older name of this species, not Mentha aquatica, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Denmark, Austria, Belgium +21
Wild records
669 in range · 481 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 67 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (46 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 7 at a herbarium, 14 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 55.50_13.125, lapse-corrected -17 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its alias; its IPNI identifier 450969-1 is IPNI's record of Mentha piperita L., the same name
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22Wikipedia's article Peppermint, the English article of this species' Wikidata item (Q156037)
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 274 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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