This was in a kitchen garden smells a bit like mint, but no one can id it, can anyone help please

My first thought was catnip, Nepeta cataria, but the leaves on yours look a bit more elongated and pointy. Yours looks to have a square stem so probably in the mint family anyway.

Is the scent lemony?

If it is it's probably Nepeta cataria citriodora. I had one set itself in a pot which survived for a few years, now I have one which set itself in the ground which is looking strong and healthy. Flowers will give you a better idea.

Possibly Stachys discolor or some other Stachys.

The leaves are not right for Stachys discolor?

https://www.nargs.org/plant/st...

Leaves 2.5-4cm long, oblong-lanceolate, deeply crenate, wrinkled dark green above, white-felted below.

http://encyclopaedia.alpinegar...

http://www.biopix-foto.de/stac...

Your right. It's not even close. I should have check more sources. The photo by vic from Crownsville Nursery looks completely wrong right? edit. Perhaps just an S. officinalis cultivar.

I think the photo by vic is likely to be correct. The description says:

Flowers rose or occasionally cream, 2cm or more long, in whorled spikes,

If you use the magnifier (tools cog) you will see the leaves look right.

Looks more like this, S. officinalis to me than S. discolor.

Hmmm, Salvia officinalis is the common herb Sage. I have had it in my garden for a few years now, the leaves are greyish and look just like this pic:

http://www.floristtaxonomy.com...

I doubt the photo you posted is Salvia officinalis.

I wondered if the flowers were big enough in vic's pic, the scale is difficult to tell. I blew up the photo and took a snip,

Stachys officinalis

HamiltonSquare said:Stachys officinalis

Ooooh, that S. officinalis!

I think you are right.

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

To me the leaves in the ID plant look too pointy at the tips to be Stachys officinalis?

Edited to add, there's something odd in the ID plant picture - it presumably is an illusion but it looks as though two of the leaves are compound

Sue, the Stachys officinalis we were referring to is the photo by vic in the database under Stachys discolor.

Sue, I see what you mean about two of the leaves looking to be compound. The ones on the lower right might be in two sets of two. The three on a stalk to the top left does give the impression of compound leaves. It might be that the tip was broken out, leaving a single leaf? If it is a Nepeta, they grown side shoots with flowers coming from the apex.

I'll take a good look at mine.

If you see a cat doing this in the link below, it's catnip.

http://g01.a.alicdn.com/kf/HTB...

JRsbugs said:Sue, the Stachys officinalis we were referring to is the photo by vic in the database under Stachys discolor.

So Vic's image is in the wrong place? Stachys discolor and Stachys officinalis are different plants according to Catalogue of Life. The leaves still look to have a sharper tip on the ID plant to me. I also wondered about Agastache, maybe anise hyssop, but the teeth on some pictures don't look quite right. Or maybe an actual mint of some kind. Be easier when it flowers!

We think vic's photo is in the wrong place Sue.

The upper leaves on my Nepeta cataria citriodora as posted above are quite pointed on the tip, I have a photo of the same plant when it was growing in a pot when it was without the flower spike, the leaves are more rounded on the basal leaves.

I have Agastache, an aniseed scented one and a peppermint one that keep setting around, both have a very strong smell. If we could get a better idea of the type of scent the leaves have it would help but flowers help more. Some Agastache leaves do look much like Nepeta cataria.

https://www.google.co.uk/searc...

The young plant of Nepeta cataria citriodora ..

sooby said:
Edited to add, there's something odd in the ID plant picture - ... it looks as though two of the leaves are compound

Yes! (No offense intended.)
And the variability ought to be taken into account.

I tried to find something in the mint family that had compound leaves with the typical square stem yesterday and didn't find anything. I know there are a few other plants with square stems so tried to find some - according to this U of Wisconsin botany page, the combo of square stem and opposite leaves is almost unique to mints, but Verbenaceae and some Urtica also do. I haven't looked for compound leaves in those yet:

http://www.botany.wisc.edu/cou...

Edit: According to eFloras in Flora of China some Verbenaceae do have compound leaves.

My first thought looking at this was Lemon Melissa, Melissa officinalis, but the scent description is not exactly "a bit like Mint", but perhaps lemony minty?