54 LABIATE 



heart shaped at base, crenate, downy on both sides, the lower ones with long 

 foot-stalks, the stalks of the lance-shaped stem-leaves gradually diminishing 

 in length, uppermost sessile ; calyx bell-shaped, with unequal spiny teeth, 

 woolly without ; corolla twice the length of calyx, purple, marked with 

 white. This plant, which attains the height of two or three feet, is very 

 variable, and may have been frequently overlooked as *S^. si/lvatica. '■ 



15. Cat-mint, Ground Ivy {Nd'peia). 



1. Cat-mint {N. aUaria). — Stems erect ; flowers in dense, many-flowered 



whorls, on short stalks, and forming a spike; leaves heart-shaped, stalked, 



with tooth-like serratures, downy; perennial. This plant, though it can 



scarcely be called common, is not unfrequent in many counties of England ; 



and in Kent, especially on the chalky soils, it sometimes grows in great 



plenty in the hedges. It is rare in Scotland, but occurs near Craig-Nethan 



Castle, and on a few other spots. The stem is two or three feet high, much 



branched; and, as well as the leaves, soft, and rendered so white by the 



down, as to have suggested the old English simile, "as white as Nep," which, 



Mr. Forby says, is still in common use in Norfolk. The whorls of flowers, 



which are to be seen from July to September, are very numerous, and the 



corollas are white, dotted with crimson. The powerful odour of the plant 



resembles that of the penny-royal. Cats are extravagantly fond of it ; but 



it is remarkable that they will pass by the herb when growing in the hedge, 



as we have observed them to do, though, if brought into the house, they 



quickly discover it, and seem quite intoxicated by it. There is an old 



proverb respecting this herb — 



" If you set it, the cats will eat it ; 

 If you sow it, the cats won't know it." 



John Kay tells us that the young plants which he removed from the 

 fields into his garden were always destroyed by cats, unless he defended 

 them by thorns placed around them till they had taken root and flowered, 

 but he adds that these animals never touched those plants which had come 

 up from seed. This must be accounted for on the principle that the odour 

 is not perceptible to the cats until the plant is broken or bruised, as it is 

 either by transplantation or by gathering. Mr. Miller mentions that he 

 removed some of his plants of Cat-mint to another part of his garden within 

 two feet of some which he had previously raised from seeds, but the former 

 were all selected and destroyed, while the others remained untouched. No 

 animal except the sheep will eat the Cat-mint on the pasture-land. It seems 

 when gathered to have its influence on the cat only, as when laid beside the 

 dog, or hung near the caged bird, it excites no attention. 



This plant is in some places called Cat-nep, and our fathers termed it 

 Herba CaUi, or Herha Cattaria. The French call it ChiUiire ; the Germans, 

 Nept; the Dutch, Kattervid ; the Italians, Cattaria. It is sometimes usefl 

 medicinally, and the leaves of several foreign species are eaten in order to 

 restore tone to the digestive organs. Commeroon states that a species 

 common in Madagascar, which has tubercular roots, is a favourite vegetable ; 

 the roots are called Eoumiiwi^. Hoffman relates that the root of otir nati\e 

 Cat-mint, if chewed, will make the most gentle persons fierce and wrathful. 



