mollis, Palisb. Trod. p. 78. — Gray’s Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 371. — Nepeta major vul- 
garis, Ray’s Syn. p. 237. — Mentha felina, sen Cattaria, Johnson’s Gerarde, 
p. 082. 
Localities. — On hedge-hanks, hy road sides, and in waste places, especially in 
a chalky or gravelly soil. Not uncommon in ENGLAND; more rare in SCOT- 
LAND, and IRELAND. 
Perennial. — Flowers in July and August. 
Root tapering, very fibrous. Stems 2 or 3 feet high, upright, 
branched, 4-angled, leafy, clothed, like every other part of the 
plant, with hoary pubescence. Leaves opposite, on longish petioles, 
heart-shaped, pointed, deeply crenated, green above, paler and 
more downy beneath. Flowers numerous, in compound, stalked 
whorls, which are crowded into spikes- and mostly turned to one 
side of the stem. Bracteas scarcely longer than the pedicels. Calyx 
egg-shaped, furrowed, pubescent, a little incurved, with an oblique 
mouth, and spear-shaped, somewhat spreading teeth. Corolla about 
one half longer than the calyx, white, the lower lip flesh-coloured, 
spotted with crimson. Stamens rather longer than the upper lip. 
Anthers reddish. Seeds egg-shaped, 3-sided, blunt at both ends, 
crowned with a white streak, smooth, dark brown when ripe. 
This plant is a native almost throughout the whole of Europe, 
and Middle Asia, on walls, in hedges, and waste places. It has a 
strong aromatic scent, between mint and pennyroyal. Cats are 
extremely fond of it, especially when it is withered, they will then 
roll themselves on it, tear it to pieces, and chew it with great plea- 
sure. Ray observes, that plants which he transplanted from the 
fields into his garden were always destroyed by cats, unless he 
protected them with thorns till they had taken root and come into 
flower, but that they never meddled with plants raised from seed. 
Hence arose the old English proverb expressed in the doggrel lines : 
'* If you set it the oats will eat it ; 
But if you sow it the cats won’t know it.” 
Mr. Miller, in his “ Gardener’s Dictionary,” says he frequently 
made trial of this, and always found it true. He transplanted one 
of the plants from another part of the garden, within two feet of 
some plants which came up from seeds ; the latter remained un- 
hurt, while the former were torn to pieces and destroyed by the 
cats. On this account it can only be preserved in gardens by sowing 
the seed, for, by the handling in the process of transplanting, or in 
the languid state subsequent to it, the peculiar scent is exhaled, 
and the cats are attracted to the plant, which otherwise they are 
unable to discover. 
An infusion of Cat-mint is deemed a specific in chlorotic cases. 
Two ounces of the expressed juice may be given for a dose. Sheep 
are said to eat it ; but all other domestic animals are said to refuse 
it. See Miller's Card. Diet, and Johnston's FI. Bcrw. 
