Aromatic, dainty-leaved plants, with typical Lamiaceae flowers, white, pink or blue. Good drought resistance, flowers attractive to butterflies and bees and the leaves can be dried for use in potpourri. Some plants previously known as Calamintha are now known as Acinos, Thymus or Clinopodium, or vice versa.
All are a valuable source of nectar and pollen to a range of pollinators over an extended summer season. They are also larval foodplants for the small, very attractive, mint moth. Calamintha nepeta (aka Clinopodium nepeta) is a very scarce British native found primarily on the sandy and gravel ridges of northeast Essex: it could therefore justifiably be seen as the native botanical icon of our part of the world.