peppermint...or not?

[Nemophila]

I have a small peppermint patch (planted last summer) that I keep trimmed so it has not had a chance to bloom. Recently I have noticed that some of the stems have leaves that are slightly more narrow, more shiny, and completely hairless. I know that mints can and will cross readily, but surely not without blooming. I am at a complete loss as to what is going on with this plant, and would greatly appreciate any advice!

[GreenZone]

You are right, the plants cannot cross without blooming! So unless they did bloom and you missed it the plant is probably just doing something appropriate to its stage-of-life or growing conditions. Now I've grown mint but never paid much attention to it. But many plants do stretch out some and grow smaller leaves just prior to blooming, so maybe that's the case here. Or it could be responding to drier or hotter growing conditions.
--Randel

[Nemophila]

It definitely never bloomed, which is one of the reasons I was so weirded out about it. I wondered initially if it was a male/female type of thing, but none of my herb books mention anything like that.

[lovetogarden]

I once requested some help at MO botanical garden to help with a similar question.

A person on a different forum asked why their chocolate mint started smelling like basil. I called the botanical garden to see if they had the answer. Someone there suggested the hybrid could be reverting back to one of its parents.
Maybe this is why.

[Nemophila]

Hmm...that is something to think about.

[zebraman]

Hey Nemophila;Peppermint is already a hybrid and doesn't reproduce true from seed.Plant propagation(divisions) is the only way.I have noticed the same odd growth on my plants as well.

[Nemophila]

Hi Zebraman! I spoke to a lady at a local herb society shorty after I posted on this thread last. She told me the same thing that Lovetogarden said, which is that it is most likely that part of the plant (for whatever reason) is reverting back to one of it's parents.
She said that I basically had two options:
#1 Remove all of the parts of the plants that were not quite right--or--
#2 Remove these plants entirely and start over

I chose option #1 and it seemed to have worked. Of course I have no idea what is going to happen when it starts growing again in the spring!

[dirtundernails]

I have lavender mint currently, and had chocolate mint once. The growth you describe is what always gets out of bounds looking for other dirt to root in. It will spread this way as well as underground. I have found these little rouges growing 20 inches down out of and behind a pot to reach the ground and root there.

dun