Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Mentha pulegium L.

Family

Labiatae (South Australia)
Lamiaceae (Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory)

Common Names

European pennyroyal, mint pennyroyal, penny royal, pennymint, penny-royal, pennyroyal, pennyroyal mint, pudding grass

Origin

Native to northern Africa (i.e. northern Algeria, Egypt, northern Libya, Morocco and Tunisia), the Azores, the Madeira Islands, the Canary Islands, most of Europe and western Asia.

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in the temperate regions of southern Australia (i.e. in many parts of southern and eastern New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, the southern parts of South Australia and south-western Western Australia).

Also naturalised overseas in New Zealand, the USA, Hawaii and southern South America.

Notes

Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria and Western Australia, and as a minor environmental weed or potential environmental weed in South Australia and New South Wales. This species has escaped cultivation as a garden herb and invaded grasslands, alluvial plains and wetter habitats (e.g. riparian areas and freshwater wetlands) in southern Australia.

Pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) poses a serious threat to one or more vegetation formations in Victoria. For example, it is common and highly invasive in plains riparian shrubby woodlands, highland wetlands and plains grassy wetlands in this state. It appears on several local and regional environmental weed lists in Victoria (e.g. in Knox city, the Goulburn Broken Catchment and the Angahook-Otways region) and has been recorded in conservation areas in Victoria (e.g. Morwell National Park) and South Australia (i.e. Hale Conservation Park, Kaiserstuhl Conservation Park, Kangaroo Flat Native Forest Reserve and Para Wirra Recreation Park).

In south-western Western Australia, pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) grows on winter-wet flats, along creeklines, and in swamps and is particularly abundant in poorly drained pastures along the south coast. It is also a weed of damp areas, depressions, riverbeds and riparian areas in New South Wales.

In other parts of the world, pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) is reported to form dense stands that crowd out native vegetation and reduce species richness. It is considered to be moderately invasive in wetlands in California, in south-western USA, and the flora of vernal pools in this region is thought to have been particularly impacted by the loss of habitat through the introduction of pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium).