It is endemic to Highlands County, Florida, in the United States, where it is known from only four sites on the Lake Wales Ridge.

The plant is steadily declining due to the destruction and degradation of its habitat, and only one of the four occurrences is on protected land.

In 1989 it was reexamined and named as a new species on the basis of the color of its anthers, its scent and certain related chemical compounds in the herbage, and the length of its leaves.

Remaining parts are degraded, the wildfire-adapted habitat having been overgrown with dense vegetation in an era of fire suppression.

The mint only grows in open areas in the canopy, space which is rare today as the larger and woody vegetation succeeds.

[4] Besides outright habitat loss and lack of a natural fire regime, threats to the species include drought and the invasive weed cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica).