wood mint

8.4

A small herb that grows in woods with hairy leaves and pale purple flowers

noun
/wʊd mɪnt/

: menta de madera

The shaded trail was lined with clusters of pale purple wood mint and ferns.

Examples

After hiking, she picked a sprig of wood mint to crush and smell for refreshment.
The garden was full of buzzing bees around the fragrant wood mint in July.
Look at that wood mint!
The wood mint grows abundantly in the forest.
The shaded trail was lined with clusters of pale purple wood mint and ferns.
After hiking, she picked a sprig of wood mint to crush and smell for refreshment.
The garden was full of buzzing bees around the fragrant wood mint in July.

Synonyms

hairy wood mint

vswood mint

9.9

A North American plant that grows in woods with pale blue or purple spotted flowers

is a general woodland herb description rather than the formal species label

Blephilia hirsuta

vswood mint

Specialized

9.9

A small plant in the mint family with hairy leaves and pale blue, purple or white spotted flowers

is a broader description of woodland herbs in the same genus

Blephilia

vswood mint

Specialized

9.9

A small group of mint plants that grow in eastern North America

is the single species description rather than the broad genus category

Surface Forms

wood mint singular

wood mints plural

Morphology

wood + mint

The meaning (a mint that grows in woods) is directly and compositionally derived from 'wood' (woodland) + 'mint' (aromatic herb). This noun–noun naming pattern is a regular, cross-linguistic way to form plant names, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the referent.

Etymology

The name wood mint comes from a simple picture: a mint plant that grows in the wood, with hairy leaves and pale purple flowers that bees love. So wood mint means 'a mint herb found in woodlands'.