I bet one of you guys will know this answer to this. I found a plant growing in a xeriscape near me that is definitely in the mint family and has blue-purple flowers. The flowers taste like blueberries with a mint aftertaste. The leaves taste like mint. Clearly highly drought tolerant, since it was in an unwatered xeriscape in my arid climate.
I was thinking it was catnip, but I’m not sure if I’m correct about that. I’ve tried that species before and found it quite tasty (because I was confident at the time it was catnip), so I’m pretty sure it’s edible and an herb worth growing to eat. I just don’t know if I IDed it correctly.
Is it catnip? Is it something else? If it’s something else, what is it?
P.S. Catmint (which is not the same as catnip, just to confuse everybody) may be a definite possibility. Pictures of catmint look just like that plant. But the blueberry-ish flavor of the flowers doesn’t seem to be something I’ve seen mentioned online, and that seems like a pretty obvious hint as to its species.
ChatGPT seems to think it’s a hybrid peppermint called “blueberry mint”. No link and I didn’t have time to do a full follow-up investigation. I found no mention and minimal supporting evidence in the abbreviated one, but can’t rule it out
Hmmm. I can’t find a Latin name for “blueberry mint,” so I’m not sure if it’s a species that exists. Google certainly doesn’t know everything, though. Has anyone ever heard of a species like that?
The closest I can find on Google right now is “berries and cream mint,” which is a variety of peppermint that is quite tasty (I’ve tried it before). This plant definitely isn’t that. It’s not a ground cover – it’s a low-growing bush. Also, the mints I’ve tried aren’t very drought tolerant – they die in my summer climate unless regularly watered. This particular plant, whatever it is, is common in xeriscaped unirrigated landscaping in my city, so it’s got to be extremely drought tolerant.