Blephilia

Blephilia
Downy pagoda-plant (Blephilia ciliata)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Lamiaceae
Subfamily:	Nepetoideae
Tribe:	Mentheae
Genus:	Blephilia (L.) Raf.

Blephilia, the pagoda plant or wood mint, is a genus of four species of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. They are all herbaceous plants native to eastern North America. ^{[1] [2]} Blephilia are most often found in open areas, glades, and mesic forests. All species of Blephilia are considered threatened or endangered in some states. ^{[3] [4] [5] [6]}

The genus includes only perennial species that spread by both seeds and through stem division. Small white to purple-lavender flowers occur in inflorescences that cluster in the upper leaf axils, often in several circular layers (hence the common name pagoda-plant). Leaves are generally lanceolate to ovate and vary in shades of green. Leaves are either petiolate or subsessile (depending on the species). ^[5] Like many other members of the subtribe Menthinae, all parts of Blephilia are highly aromatic when crushed and have smells similar to menthol and spearmint.^{[ citation needed ]}

Species

• Blephilia ciliata (L.) Benth. – downy pagoda-plant – widespread from Texas and Florida north to Quebec and Ontario
• Blephilia hirsuta (Pursh) Benth. – hairy pagoda-plant – widespread from Texas and Georgia north to Quebec and Ontario
• Blephilia subnuda Simmers & Kral – Cumberland pagoda-plant – endemic to northeastern Alabama
• Blephilia woffordii Floden - Wofford's pagoda-plant - endemic to central Tennessee

References

1. "Blephilia". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
2. Kartesz, John T. (2013). "Blephilia". County-level distribution maps from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP).
3. NRCS. "Blephilia". PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved July 16, 2007.
4. "Blephilia". Native Plant Database. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, University of Texas at Austin . Retrieved July 16, 2007.
5. Simmers, Richard W.; Kral, Robert (1992). "A New Species of Blephilia (Lamiaceae) from Northern Alabama". Rhodora. 94 (877): 1–14. ISSN   0035-4902. JSTOR   23313168.
6. Floden, Aaron; Schilling, Edward (2020). "A new stenoendemic species of Blephilia (Lamiaceae: Lamioideae; Menthinae) from the Interior Low Plateau of Tennessee" . Phytotaxa. 442 (2): 101–110. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.442.2.5.