Catmint

Umney and BcQaell- have examined the oil distilled in SicQy from the catmint, X peta Calaria. It has the following characters -... 

Easy to root Among the most successful plants for beginners to try are fuohslas, pelargoniums (below), and nepeta (catmint). 

Nepetalactone (Fig. 11.5c), a monoterpene lactone (or iridoid) from the volatile oil of catmint, Nepeta cataria, excites domestic cats and other felids (Todd, 1962 Palen and Goddard, 1966 Hill etal, 1976). 

Catnep. Cataria catnip catmint. Herb of Nepcta cataria L., Labiaiae. Habit. Europe. Asia naturalized in U.S. Cemstir. Volatile oil, nepetalactonc (g.v.), nepetalic acid and related compds, tannin McElvain. Eisenbraun, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 77, 1599 (1955). Its odor is very attractive to al] members of the cat family. 

Occurrence I. was first isolated from the Australian ant Iridomyrmex detectus and the hunting beetle Sta-phylinus olens, Coleoptera Staphylinidae). It was later also found in the essential oil of a not exactly defined Australian species of Myoporum. Nepetalac-tone occurs in the essential oil (51%) of the genuine catmint Nepeta cataria, Lamiaceae) and is an attrac-tant for cats. 

Mutlu, S., 0. Atici, N. Esim, and E. Mete, 2010. Essential oils of catmint (Nepeta meyeri Benth.) induce oxidative stress in early seedlings of various weed species. ActaPl sioL J, 33 943-951. 

Five-membered rings are present, for example, in the physiologically important prostanoids as well as in monoterpenes, the iridoids, in the antibiotic hirsutic acid and in nepetalactone, an essential oil from catmint. 

Nepetalactone as main oil component from catmint species Nepeta sp.) occius in three isomers (4aa,7a,7aa 4aa,7a,7ap 4aa,7p,7aa) and is a powerful attractant and stimulant for cats. It is produced from iridodial. 

Common/vernacular names Catnep, catnip, and catmint. 

A more successful application of terpenes in crop protection has been found with the development of (4aS,7S,7aK)-nepetalactone 40 from catmint as an insect attractant. As well as luring male aphids, nepetalactone serves as an attractant to numerous aphid predators such as lacewings (Birkett Pickett 2003). Formulations of catmint oil distillate, impregnated into a polymer which releases nepetalactone over a period of months, are now commercially available. This represents the first example of plant cultivation on a large scale for insect pheromone production - less than 35 tonnes of plant material yield over 301 of nepetalactone-rich oil at a production cost of approximately l/g. 

N. C. Spero et al., Repellency of hydrogenated catmint oU formulations to black flies and mosquitoes in the field. Journal of Medical Entomology, 45 (6), 1080, 2008. 

Webb CE and Russell RC. Is the extract from the plant catmint (Nepeta cataria) repellent to mosquitoes in Australia Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association 23, 351-354, 2007. 

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