Where on the planet was this ’countryside village’? And what is the scale?

Ops, forgot to mention it: Portugal. Leaves are approx. 2cm size. Flower stem appx. 14cm high. Smell is decidedly mint, but leaves are not like mint, they are velvety, have the whitish hair on it like sage leaves. Flowers are not in clusters like every mint flower from different kinds I saw since years.

I’d guess some kind of Plectranthus But I don’t know if any occur in Portugal.

Thank you. Seems like this is a Nepeta indeed. I checked pictures online, the flower stems and the leaves' format match.

Do you think the plant is wild? Or could it have escaped cultivation?

Floral, there are wild forms of Nepeta here... similar to cat mint and something like it.

Yes, but the OP is in Portugal, not the US. I found two Nepeta species which occur there, neither of which looks much like this plant. But that was after only a quick look. That's why I asked if it could be an escape. Maybe from dumped garden refuse or such.

Ah.... yes.... possibly.

Nepeta is native to Europe (I did not know this). After a quick search, by the flower stem and flower format (they do not grow in clusters like other Nepeta), and gray-green leaves this seems to be Nepeta x faassenii Nepeta x faassenii (Blue Catmint, Faasen's Catmint) | North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox (ncsu.edu) but I may be wrong.

However N. faassenii is a sterile hybrid it says. This could mean the plant could com from garden refuse. I manage to °save° the plant into a pot, will grow it. It has 3 flower stems. Two of them are drying now, one is still fresh. Will check if they bear any seeds and plant them to check if they are sterile.

Good luck! I hope the seeds reproduce for you, but if sterile, then maybe not. You might have to grow more by growing starts from the one you found..

This single plant may not yet have made a cluster because it was a start itself. Time will tell.

Thank you Kate.

Hi. The Nepeta did not resist winter. This spring, on the same pot, small seedlings started growing, their leaves similar to the Nepeta. I thought: - Fine, let's see how the Nepeta grows and upload a couple of pictures here for you to see.

Its leaves were as aromatic as those from the Nepeta. I did not tasted them on a tea, only by fretting them in my hand. But, they are much less hairy, They do not feel velvety on the touch and do not look withish from the hairs like the Nepeta I collected in Portugal. They have a bit of hair though. Now the plant started flowering. The flowers are different from those of the Nepeta who grew on their own stem. The new plant have axial flowers in the same stem of its leaves. The format of the flowers resemble those of the Nepeta (photos in the beginning of the thread). This can be a herb good for seasoning dishes. Please, is that a Nepeta too?

I have to admit that I’ve never used Nepeta in cooking. I’d want to know which kind first anyway.

I’m glad your little plant is doing so well.

Give a little to a cat and see how they react. 😄 If they like it and go a little nuts then you know it’s Catmint. I grew that and the local cats ”rolled” it to death… literally. I had a whole pathway lined with Horsemint that no one bothered and was just as pretty.