Escaped and often very well established in relatively natural settings along rivers and streams, in marshes and ditches, on shores, in open areas of swamps; and in moist pastures, clearings, thickets, and disturbed ground. Commonly cultivated and early introduced; collected by the First Survey in 1837 in St. Joseph Co.

Peppermint originated in Europe as a naturally occurring sterile hybrid between M. aquatica and M. spicata, and has been selected in cultivation, like spearmint, for glabrousness.