A mint from Joseph in Summerville SC

i found this plant in my back yard.
It is low growing and stands about 3-4 inches off of the ground.
Emerging from the ground is a lime-ish/khaki colored green stalk that is rather woody probably due to the fact that it has probably been ran over with a lawn mover a few times.

emerging from the old main stalk is appears to be a new stalk that is redish/brown then turns green with new growth also every thing on the new stalk is covered in fine white hairs.
Their appears to be fewer hairs under the leaves than on top.

the leaves are also slightly lighter green than the tops of the leaves.

One of the main things that stands out to me is how the plant smells!
it smells delightful, though hard to describe. it smells like some type of an herb, however when leaves are crushed the herbish smell goes away and is replaced with a scent that smells of peas :-)

 

Hi Joseph,

this is a hard one for me, partly because the growth is so young.  It does appear to be in the mint family, but if it were the true mint (Mentha) you would probably recognize the spearmint or peppermint aroma of the leaves.  If the aroma is like lemon, I would say it is probably Lemon balm, Melissa officinalis.   Perhaps someone else here has an idea, but until you can send more pictures when it is older, I’m afraid those are my guesses at this time.

Sincerely,

Steve Hill, Botanist

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