Catnip (Nepeta cataria L.)

Catnip is a perennial herbaceous plant from the Lamiaceae family (Labiatae). Other names: lemon catnip, mint catnip, catnip, catgrass

Description:

A plant with a straight, strong, branched, pubescent stem, 50-100 cm in height. The leaves are triangular-ovate with a sharp apex and a heart-shaped base, large-serrated along the edge, green above, gray-green below. The flowers are rather small, whitish or reddish, with a thin tube and a concave, kidney-shaped middle lobe of the lower 3-lobed lip, collected at the top of the stem and branches in dense, oblong inflorescences. It blooms in June-August. Catnip is found in bushes, slopes and weedy places.

Contains active substances:

Catnip contains essential oil, bitter substance, glycosides, tannins, saponins.

Medicinal use:

An aqueous decoction of catnip is drunk for chronic bronchitis and gastric diseases, hysteria, melancholy, cholera, menstrual disorders.