Catnip
Nepeta cataria
Ezekiel 47:12 "And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine."
Nicknames: Catnip; Catmint;
Classification: Perennial;
Plant Family: Lamiaceae;[1] Genus: Nepeta;[1] Species: N. cataria[1]
Ethnobotany: Catnip (Nepeta cataria) produces essential oil which is of industrial importance. It, and its metabolites are used in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and food industries.[3] Catnip is useful as a natural repellent against arthropods, mosquitoes, flies, ticks, and mites.[4] Traditionally, Catnip has been used by herbalists to treat fever, cold, cough, stomach problems, diarrhea, sore throats, headaches, pneumonia, female problems, blood disorders, convulsions, rheumatism, and toothache[10] The flowers and leaves have both been used as antispasmodic, carminative, stimulant, sedative, emmenagogue, and antiseptic[10] Catnip has also been used for feverish cold, measles, chickenpox, period problems, nervousness, insomnia, and hypertension.[10] Apart from these, pharmacological screening reported its antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant, insecticidal, anti-inflammatory, anti-nociceptive, and spasmolytic properties[10] Catnip was used in ancient Egypt.[11] A tea made from the herb is popular in England.[11] The root in old times was said to induce "fierceness and hotheadedness".[11] It can also be used topically to treat bruises, piles, and head scabs.[11] It can induce sweating without raising body temperature and induce sleep.[11] Catnip serves as a sedative for migraines, menstrual cramps, tension, and anxiety.[11] It's even said to be good for the stomach which makes sense, being that it is in the mint family.[11]
Catnip in DIY Products:
Because Catnip is commonly known as a repallent for arthropods[4], it can be used as an ingredient in DIY products, like the kind that women make and sell on ETSY. I try to inspire entrepaneurs with ideas like this on here. I love to see people being creative and being competitive for big industry. Catnip can be made into a tea, and then that tea evaporated until it becomes like a syrup, and then that can be made into salves, laced in with candles, lotions, perfumes, sprays, or homemade cleaning products. The possibilities are endless when working with things like Catnip to create these types of incredible buys. I wish you the best with your operations. The essential oil of Catnip is also effective against: mosquitoes, flies, ticks, mites, and other carriers of disease that annoy human beings while they chill outdoors.[4]Natural Habitat: Europe;[1] Parts Of The Middle East;[1] Asia;[1]
Mixes well with: Other mints like spearmint, peppermint, Lemon balm.
OG Observations: When Catnip goes in to its flowering phase, it literally smells exactly like Marijuana. Keep this in mind. If the police start driving up and down your street mysteriously, and you happen to be growing a lot of Catnip in your hard, it could be that the neighbours smell it and think that it's weed. Serious true story folks. It's just something I've noticed. It must share the same terpenes. I remember reading in a book that Catnip being in the mint family, is very similar to Cannabis phytochemically because mint plants and Cannabis plants are closely related in some way, even if it is just chemically. I need a source on that, and can't for the life of me remember where I read it, but it was most likely a credible source because I have a lot of books written by scholars, and I believe I read it in one of them. I just can't remember which one, at the moment.
What is Phytochemistry? What are Phytochemicals? Phytochemistry isolates pharmacological phytochemicals out of dried plant material in the lab to determine the medicinal properties of historic herbal medicines.[2] Common phytochemicals include things like CBD, Caffeine, THC, Mitragynine, Morphine even, Nicotine. They are drugs which exist naturally within plants, as they are produced by said plants powered by the process of phytosynthesis, hints the name "phytochemicals", and "phytochemistry". The chemicals listed below that Catnip produces, were isolated in the lab by these scholars. It's something a lot of people are unaware of, as they believe the lie that herbal medicine isn't scientifically backed. Herbal remedies are scientifcally backed. In fact, all of modern medicine would not exist without herbalism in the first place.[3] It is ethnobotanical specimens that lead to the future discovery and production of new medicines.[3] Sadly serpent medical takes this to a whole new abominatory level. I must warn against worshipping false pagan gods associated with modern medical.
Phytochemicals: flavonoids, phenolic acid, steroids, terpenoids, and terpenoid hydrocarbons[3] The components that I just listed are common in most plants. Herbal remedies tend to produce their own unique phytochemical constituents as well however, and not just this common recurring ones. For Catnip, one such phytochemical component is known as nepetalactone[4] The essential oil has been studied by phytochemist and found to produce and contain 4aβ, 7α, 7aβ-nepetalactone, 4aα, 7α, 7aβ-nepetalactone, 1,8-cineole, and elemol.[4] Catnip also produces and contains: Saponins, water-soluble and insoluble phenols, poly-steroids, cardiac glycosides, free and combined anthraquinones, tannins, and alkaloids.[3]
Phytochemist: Phytochemist have the coolest job on the planet. They isolate pharmacological constituents from plants, and study them for their medicinal qualities. I have always thought about how cool it would be to have a huge stash of rare phytochemical isolates pulled out of plants like this. If you truly understand the nature of medicine(real medicine), and where it all comes from(seed bearing herbs like Catnip), then you can start to understand how the entire planet is being deprived of the best medicines on earth, or at least distracted from the fact that they're growing right under your nose. A skilled entrepaneur could produce medicinal produts spiked with isolates that would offer meidicinal properties far superior to that of modern pharmaceutical drugs.
According to Wikipedia, Aphids produce a chemical that's closely related which is a sex phermone. I wanted to see if this statement was true, so I hit the scholarly sources. I found an academic source to confirm that this is a fact.[8] It makes me wonder if the Catnip is making the cats sexually stimulated, as it is a known fact that it makes them at least playful, high, and excited. I wanted to find out how Nepetalactone worked, so I looked it up. "Felidae olfactory receptor exposure to nepetalactones or nepetalactols induces β-endorphin secretion in the blood; this endorphin release in turn activates μ-opioid receptors as an agonist, thus working in a similar manner as morphine or other opioids"[9] I hypothesize that perhaps it has a sexual effect on them too, being that it is chemically similar to a phermone produced by aphids(as stated and cited previously).
Pharmacological / Medicinal Properties: analgesic, anti-asthmatic, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties, as well as antioxidant, insecticidal, anti-nociceptive, and potentially spasmolytic properties as well.[3] Catnip is shown to treat gastrointestinal and respiratory disorders.[3] Multiple studies have proven the anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties of Catnip and its essential oils.[3]
Liver Protective: "Studies demonstrate that N. cataria essential oils effectively reduced liver damage caused by acetaminophen and enhanced mRNA expression of uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) and sulfotransferases"[3] To help both you and I understand this a bit more, I did more research so we could break it down together. Firstly, what is glucuronic acid? It's: "an acid derived from glucose, occurring naturally as a constituent of hyaluronic acid and other glycosaminoglycans"(Google's definition). Let's move on to the next definition now. According to PubMed, "The uridine diphosphate (UDP)-glucuronosyltransferases (UGT) are a family of enzymes that catalyse the covalent addition of glucuronic acid to a wide range of lipophilic chemicals"[5] Finally, the next question for us to understand what this means is "What are lipophilic chemicals?", and the answer to that question is: "A lipophilic substance is a type of chemical that has a high affinity for fats and tends to accumulate in fatty tissues"[6] Finally, mRNA expression is: "a technique in which mRNA expression levels in a cell population are reverse transcribed and are amplified by many separate PCR reactions"[7] Having said all of that, I still have no clue what any of it means. I do understand the part about its oils reducing liver damaged caused by acetaminophen and whatever else all that other stuff means, which is cool. Bottom line, the science illustrates that these herbal remedies produce very complex and miraculous pharmacological actions.
Buy Nepeta cataria Here!
Academic citations:
[2] Burrell, R. C. "Phytochemistry. What it is and how it has developed." Journal of Chemical Education 14.11 (1937): 520.
[3] Nadeem, Ali, et al. "Phytochemical profiling of antimicrobial and potential antioxidant plant: Nepeta cataria." Frontiers in Plant Science 13 (2022): 969316.
[4] Gomes, Erik N., et al. "Catnip (Nepeta cataria l.): Recent advances in botany, horticulture and production." Medicinal and aromatic plants of north America (2020): 247-284.
[5] Meech R, Mackenzie PI. Structure and function of uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferases. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 1997 Dec;24(12):907-15. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1681.1997.tb02718.x. PMID: 9406655.
[6] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/lipophilic-substance
[7] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/mrna-expression-level
[8] Birkett, Michael A., and John A. Pickett. "Aphid sex pheromones: from discovery to commercial production." Phytochemistry 62.5 (2003): 651-656.
[9] Uenoyama R, et al. (2021). "The characteristic response of domestic cats to plant iridoids allows them to gain chemical defense against mosquitoes". Science Advances. 7 (4): eabd9135. Bibcode:2021SciA....7.9135U. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abd9135. PMC 7817105. PMID 33523929.
[10] Sharma, Ajay, G. A. Nayik, and Damanjit Singh Cannoo. "Pharmacology and toxicology of Nepeta cataria (Catmint) species of genus Nepeta: A review." Plant and Human Health, Volume 3: Pharmacology and Therapeutic Uses (2019): 285-299.
[3] Balick, Michael J., and Paul Alan Cox. Plants, people, and culture: the science of ethnobotany. Garland Science, 2020.
Encyclopedia Sources:
[1] Wikipedia contributors, "Catnip," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catnip (accessed December 18, 2024).
Other resources:
M.A.P.S. Ethnobotanical Studies By Scholars
PubChem - pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov