CATNIP
(Nepeta cataria)
catmint, field balm, cat's wort

Description: Erect perennial, 3-5 ft. tall. Erect square branching stem is hairy and soft. Leaves, pointed, opposite, oblong or cordate with scalloped edges. Has a long leaf stalk with top being green and grayish green, whitish hairs underneath. Flowers, in whorled spikes of two-lipped, white or blue, spotted with lavender clusters. A native of Europe, now found throughout the U.S. in fields, on dry banks waste places and chalky or gravely soil.

Edible, Medicinal: Tender leaves are added to salads, to flavor meat. Anodyne, antispasmodic, aromatic, calmative, carminative, diaphoretic. Root and mint scent leaf intoxicates cats and repels rats and flea beetles. A tea from the leaves and flowering tops, 2 cups a day (2 tsp. herb to 1/2 cup boi1ing water, steeped 10 min.) are used to treat colds, calm upset stomachs, for scalp problems, to reduce fevers and sooth headaches. Their mild sedative action soothes babies with colic. Fresh leaves are used in making a poultice for bruises and are put into cat toys.

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