132 Bo^-Trottin^ for OrcHids 



Catnip. I gathered some tender shoots for pussy Yale. 

 The name Catnip is of ancient origin, derived from the 

 Latin, Nepete, the name of an Etrurian city. Our 

 native plant is of European origin. Dodoens, in 1578, 

 writes of this plant : "In shops it is called Nepita ; in 

 England Pep, and Cat-Mmt, in French Herbe de Chat'^ 

 The name of our single species is to-day Nepeta Ca- 

 taria. There are about one hundred and fifty native 

 species of this group of plants found in Europe and 

 Asia. 



This family of Mints vi^as known to the ancients as 

 Calainmt or Calamintha, and included in Dodoens' day 

 four or five species described by the Greeks, each of 

 them having several names marked by different me- 

 dicinal virtues. The first kind was called Mountain 

 Calamint ; the second was known as Wild Penny- 

 royal, and the third variety as Cat's-Mint or Cat's- 

 Herbe, — just described as Nepeta. The Wild 

 Pennyroyal of the ancients resembled the cultivated 

 species at that time also, which was known in Eng- 

 land, during 1500, as Podding- Grasse or Pudding- 

 Grass. Pliny attributed twenty-five medicinal and 

 mystical properties to Pennyroyal, in Christ's day, 

 while Dodoens and Lyte mention fourteen uses of 

 the herb in 1578. Xenocrates prescribed " a branch 

 of Penny-Royall wrapped in wool," and placed be- 

 neath the bedclothes as a remedy against malignant 

 fevers. 



The Mints in general were called in ancient apothe- 

 cary shops Mentha. This group of plants was known 



