Catnip: What Is It For, Where It Grows, A Description Of The Plant, Application Features, Can It Be Grown At Home, Photo

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 22:26

Catnip - for cats and more

People all over the world know and use this plant with gratitude for about a thousand years - for medicinal and culinary purposes. But much earlier they paid attention to him … cats - big and small, wild and domestic. It is no coincidence that the main names of this familiar herb are catnip and catnip.

Content

• 1 What is catnip

  • 1.1 Difference from other types of mint

    1.1.1 Photo Gallery: Variety of Species of Mint

  • 1.2 Useful plant composition

  • 1.3 How to grow

    1.3.1 Video: we grow the seedlings of fragrant shandra

  • 1.4 Why cats love the smell of mint

    1.4.1 Video: how catnip acts on cats

• 2 How You Can Use Catnip

  • 2.1 For pets
  • 2.2 In landscape design
  • 2.3 In cooking
  • 2.4 In traditional medicine
• 3 Contraindications
• 4 Reviews

What is catnip

This cute perennial herb is familiar to many. Wild varieties of catnip (catnip) are often found in meadows and forest glades, and just along roads in all regions of Europe and Asia. And cultivated, very decorative plant varieties are widely used in landscape design - they decorate gardens and parks. But not everyone knows what truly magical properties this beautiful and unpretentious plant is endowed with.

Cats love the scent of catnip

Difference from other types of mint

Outwardly, Népeta catária (this is the Latin name for catnip) is not much different from other mint varieties. This plant has many varieties, up to one and a half dozen of which are widely known and are used for both medicinal and culinary purposes. But cats unmistakably choose their favorite catnip from all the mint variety - they will not confuse its specific smell with anything.

Photo gallery: variety of mint species

Oregano or wild mint is an effective remedy for colds and bronchitis

Ground mint is grown primarily as a houseplant to repel moths.

Catnip has a lemon scent and attracts cats

Curly mint - leafy, garden, meadow, German - they are all one and the same plant

Menthol Mint has a very high menthol content

Lemon mint - aka melissa, mead or bee mint - a great honey plant

Field mint is used by Tibetan healers to treat tuberculosis

Flea mint repels harmful insects well

Scandinavian ivy grows well both on the flowerbed and on the windowsill

Peppermint is the most famous and popular type of plant, it has a pronounced aroma

Budra has a delicate and delicate aroma, and its bushes grow up to a meter in height under good conditions. Erect stems are decorated with bright green velvety leaves, and from late spring to early autumn - with panicles of delicate inflorescences. Catnip has a generous range of blooms - all shades of white, pink, lilac and even blue.

Catnip thickets - heaven for cats

Catnip - medicinal and ornamental plant

Catnip leaves are virtually indistinguishable from many other mint varieties. But the inflorescences, panicles and individual flowers are larger than in other species. This is perhaps the most decorative type of plant. If you rub a fresh catnip leaf with your fingers, then its unique aroma will remain on the skin for a long time - delicate and complex, with notes of lemon, menthol and freshness - you will not confuse it with anything.

Useful composition of the plant

Catnip has a very rich and interesting composition, which, however, has not yet been fully studied. The plant contains the following valuable components:

• glycosides;
• saponins;
• tannins;
• bitterness;
• ascorbic and ursolic acid;
• essential oil.

Only the aerial part of the catnip is of value: leaves, flowers and stems

It is the essential oil that is the main active ingredient of the catnip, due to which it is effectively used in various fields. The aboveground part of the budra, primarily flowers and leaves, contains up to three percent of ether, which, in turn, is represented by the following components:

• geronoll;
• limonene;
• citral;
• nepetalactone;
• citronellol;
• pullegon;
• inerol;
• carvacrol.

How to grow

Catnip is quite unpretentious, but it prefers fertile soil, loves moisture, warmth and light. Only when such conditions are combined will its flowering be abundant and long-lasting. Knowing this, it will not be at all difficult to grow a catnip on your own in a garden plot or even in a pot on a windowsill.

The plant reproduces easily in various ways:

• seeds;
• dividing the bush;
• by cuttings.

Such beauty is not at all difficult to grow on your own.

Choose the sunniest areas for planting catnip - in the shade, it will be pale and will not bloom. Light soil is ideal for sowing seeds, and the optimal time for this is mid-April. It should be borne in mind that the seedlings will develop rather slowly at first - the plant will concentrate all its forces on the formation of the root system.

Catnip in a pot is beautiful and useful

Video: we grow seedlings of fragrant shandra

Why cats love the smell of mint

The scent of catnip is unusually attractive not only for domestic moons and leopards - in the same way all wild cats lose their composure, even huge and formidable tigers, lions, jaguars … Representatives of the feline family are not indifferent to essential oils of Budra. Volatile ethers act on them as pheromones and as … a kind of drugs, causing hallucinations that are very pleasant for animals.

Catnip is a favorite plant of cats and cats

The period of active influence of shandra on the brain centers of cats is short - only ten to fifteen minutes. After this time, the animals become absolutely indifferent to this stimulus and do not pay attention to it for at least three more hours.

Catnip only affects adult animals

Video: how catnip acts on cats

youtube.com/watch?v=lGs6hrSYpxo

How you can use catnip

Shandra fragrant is used for both humans and cats. It is mainly used as a medicinal plant, but it plays a significant role in landscape design and in cooking. And yet it is no coincidence that catnip got its name - its special properties allow the plant to be widely used in various forms in order to regulate many aspects of the behavior of pets.

In addition, essential oils of catnip have found their application in cosmetic and perfumery production: in their pure form they are included in complex formulas of perfumes and eau de toilette, and as perfumed fragrances they are used for aromatization, soap, shower gels, shampoos, toothpaste, etc. etc.

Where budra grows, there are never flies and mosquitoes

For pets

Most often, budra is used to focus the cat's attention and attract it to any objects or actions: for example, to a scratching post, sleeping place or tray. Catnip is able to normalize the psychological state and behavior of your pet. An overly excited animal calms down from the scent of a catnip, and a lethargic and depressed animal is invigorated.

The catnip-scented scratching post is very attractive to the cat

The toy with the catnip leaves hidden inside will become your pet's favorite

Cats not only enjoy the scent of boudra, but also eat it in small quantities - for treatment: improving digestion and in order to get rid of worms. The bitterness included in the plant improve the motility of the sluggish intestines, and ursolic acid stimulates the "production" of enzymes and stops inflammatory processes in the gastrointestinal tract, at the same time improving the animal's appetite.

The tandem of bitterness, tannins and essential oils has a mild and prolonged antiparasitic effect, which extends to various types of worms. Most importantly, catnip is absolutely non-toxic and its consumption does not inhibit the liver, kidneys and other internal organs of your pet.

In landscape design

Florists actively use decorative varieties of catnip in landscape design to decorate garden plots and parks. The plant looks especially impressive in spacious areas and in the frame of artificial reservoirs. Breeders have bred many cultivars of fragrant shandra, which differ from wild ones in rather large inflorescences and a wide variety of color palette.

Ornamental catnip varieties have larger and brighter flowers than wild ones.

It is very important to remove dry, already faded "panicles" in time so that the plant has fresh flower shoots. Thanks to this, the flowering of the catnip will become longer and more abundant. Some flower growers practice a more radical approach - in mid-July, areas overgrown with budra are mowed and provided here with generous regular watering.

The catnip looks spectacular on the shore of the reservoir

In cooking

The fragrant plant is used with pleasure by experienced chefs. Dried and powdered budra is included in a mixture of spices for flavoring various dishes:

• soups;
• salads;
• herring marinade;
• baked meat;
• spicy cheeses;
• sauces;
• baking;
• desserts;
• cocktails.

Dried catnip retains aroma and benefits well

In folk medicine

Since ancient times, people have used catnip as a medicinal plant for healing various ailments:

• digestive disorders;
• low acid gastritis;
• poor appetite;
• colds and bronchitis;
• neurosis and insomnia;
• bradycardia;
• many skin diseases;
• parasitic infection.

Make yourself tea with catnip - forget about insomnia

A cup of delicious tea with a couple of budra leaves, drunk before bedtime, will relieve you of insomnia and night cramps.

Contraindications

The use of catnip should be abandoned by those people who have been diagnosed with the following diseases:

• severe heart disease;
• gastritis with high acidity;
• tachycardia.

It is impossible to take budra and drugs based on it even in small doses during pregnancy and breastfeeding

The plant is absolutely safe for cats. Unless if your pet overeats in excess of this fragrant herb, then his intestines may be upset for a while.

But for cats, catnip is completely safe.

Reviews

Pay close attention to the catnip. This herb probably grows somewhere near your home - if not in the garden, then just on the street or wasteland. Tear it off and use it - your sleep will become stronger, and your food tastier. If you have a cat, the catnip will be the best gift for him!