Medicinal Monday - Rose Mint

Agastache pallidiflora or New Mexico giant hyssop, also known as Rose Mint spreads over desert canyons of the American southwest like a beautiful wand with bright rose-lavender colors. This tall showy perennial has been used medicinally and in ceremonies by the Navajo, Ramah for centuries.

About Rose Mint
This sturdy plant is in the mint family and is native to the southwest, primarily Texas and New Mexico. It has a long cylindrical terminal spikelike panicle of deep rose-purple flowers. The leaves are deeply serrated and the stems are square. This plant is typically found in moist canyons at middle elevations. It is found in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and parts of Colorado. The flowers bloom in densely packed clusters from June - September. They produce a continual mass of lavender rose-scented flowers that are extremely attractive to bees and butterflies. 

Medicinal and Ceremonial Uses

The Navajo Ramah harvest the roots, dry them, and then pulverize them. The result is a powder used to treat sores and cankers. Another use of this plant is to treat fever and bad coughs. The Ramah also make Rose Mint into a fumigant for pest control and deer infection. 

Culturally, Rose Mint is important because it is used in the form of a chant lotion by Navajo, Ramah in ceremonies. It is also considered to be important in witchcraft because it keeps witches and evil spirits away.

Did You Know... 

John Calyton named this genus in 1762. It was first named Brittonastrum pallidiflora by Amos Heller in 1899. The name was changed to Agastache pallidiflora in 1906 by Axel Rydberg.

This plant is also known as Bill Williams Mountain Hyssop

Rose Mint is known to act as a sedative to nervousness and anxiety.