MINT FAMILY 



LABIATE MINT FAMILY 



Nepeta cataria, L. 



Purple-pink, lilac-white Catnip, 



Catmint, 



July-November Cat's Wort, 



Field Mint. 



Nepeta: Latin name, thought to be derived from the name 



of an Etruscan city where the plant was common. 

 Cataria: from Latin for a cat. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: gardens, roadsides. 



THE PLANT: erect, two feet to three feet high; the stem 

 sage green, with dense white down, branched; the branches 

 ascending. 



THE LEAVES: opposite; heart-shaped to oblong; one inch 

 to three inches long; above with few, short, soft hairs; below 

 covered with white down and therefore paler; acute at the 

 apex; mostly heart-shaped at the base; deeply dentate. 



THE FLOWERS: small, in terminal clusters, which are 

 rarely four inches long and are downy; the tube a little 

 longer than the calyx; the broad middle lobe of the lower 

 lip with shallow scallops; the teeth somewhat awl-shaped. 



THE FRUIT: nutlets. 



A mint of the barnyard or waste ground with a densely 

 downy stem, downy round-toothed leaves, and pale lilac 

 flowers. This exceedingly common weed has a great 

 allurement for cats. Mr. Mathews says, "A favourite 

 Manx cat of mine would walk a mile every other day or so 

 from my Campton studio to a spot where it [the Catnip] 

 grew in plenty, notwithstanding the way was through the 

 woods and over a hill of no small difficulty!" 



Whatever effect it may have on a cat's nerves, the plant 

 was formerly considered an excellent nervine for people, 

 and for that purpose was extensively gathered. A drug 

 obtained from it is still considered valuable. 



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