This is probably your cat’s favorite herb, but it seems to have almost the same intensely euphoric effect on little white butterflies, to judge by the swirling masses of them that were visiting this plant. It was blooming in late July at the edge of an overgrown gravel drive in Scott Township. A tisane can be made from the leaves, but your cat will probably drink it before you get a chance at it.

Nepeta cataria is the only species commonly found in the wild around here. In Gray, the genus Glechoma is also included in Nepeta.

NÉPETA L. CAT MINT. Calyx tubular, often incurved. Corolla dilated in the throat; the upper lip erect, rather concave, notched or 2-cleft ; the lower 3-cleft, the middle lobe largest, either 2-lobed or entire. —Perennial herbs. (The Latin name, thought to be derived from Nepete, an Etruscan city.)

§ 1. CATARIA [Tourn.] Reiohenb. Cymose clusters rather dense and many-flowered, forming interrupted spikes or racemes; upper floral leaves small and bract-like.

N. catària L. (catnip.) Downy, erect, branched; leaves heart-shaped, oblong, deeply crenate, whitish-downy underneath; corolla whitish, dotted with purple. — Near dwellings; a common weed. July-Sept. (Nat. from Eu.)

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In his Field Book of American Wild Flowers, F. Schuyler Mathews becomes uncharacteristically personal in describing this plant:

Nepeta cataria. An exceedingly common weed to which many of the animals of the tribe Felis are greatly attached. A favorite Manx cat of mine would walk a mile every other day or so, from my Campton studio to a spot where it grew in plenty, notwithstanding the way was through the woods and over a hill of no small difficulty! The stem is densely downy as well as the deeply round-toothed leaves, and both are sage green in color. The pale lilac or lilac-white and spotted flowers are also downy, and gathered in small terminal clusters, which are rarely 4 inches long. Leaves strongly aromatic. 2-3 feet high. Common everywhere. Naturalized from Europe.

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In Wild Flowers East of the Rockies (1910), Chester Albert Reed gives us a little more of the lore of Catnip:

CATNIP (Nepeta cataria) (EUROPEAN) is a very common mint, introduced from Europe, the aromatic foliage of which has a very peculiar attraction for all members of the feline race. It apparently has an intoxicating effect upon them; after eating the leaves they will roll about on them for a long time. It also formerly was used for making Catnip tea, a one-time remedy for most of the ills of childhood. The plant has a stout, square hollow stem from 2 to 3 feet tall and is downy, as are the sage green, toothed leaves. The lilac-white flowers are clustered on peduncles from the axils of the leaves. Catnip is common throughout our range.

Easily distinguished from anything similar by the foamy appearance of the flowers, which have puffy tufts of hair on their upper lips. “Motherwort” is so named because it was used by herbalists for what have traditionally been called “female difficulties.” This plant was part of a large stand at the edge of a dense thicket in Beechview, whre it was blooming in the middle of July.

Gray describes the genus and the species:

LEONÙRUS L. MOTHERWORT. Calyx 5-nerved, with 5 nearly equal teeth. Upper lip of the corolla oblong and entire, somewhat arched; the lower spreading, 3-lobed, its middle lobe larger, narrowly oblong-obovate, entire, the lateral ones oblong. — Upright herbs, with cut-lobed leaves, and close whorls of flowers in their axils; in summer. (Name from leon, a lion, and oura, tail, i.e. Lion’s-tail.)

L. cardìaca L. (COMMON M.) Tall perennial; leaves long-petioled, tbe lower rounded, palmately lobed, the floral wedge-shaped at base, subentire or 3-clefl, the lobes lanceolate; upper lip of the pale purple corolla bearded. — Waste places, around dwellings. (Nat. from Eu.)

Sometimes called just “balm,” as it was in older times; we moderns like to multiply syllables. A delightful lemon-flavored mint often planted in herb gardens, from which it immediately begins plotting its escape. Unlike Spearmint, which spreads by runners, Lemon Balm seeds itself everywhere, and the little seeds can easily wash downhill a considerable distance from the planting site. Once you have lemon balm, you have it forever, and in the most unexpected places. It also pops up in vacant lots and other unmowed areas. When Gray says “sparingly escaped from gardens,” it shows us that he never tried growing the stuff.

The lemon scent and fuzzy stem and leaves are characteristic. Little white flowers appear in rows of bracts, and bes love them; in fact, the generic name means “bee” in Greek. This plant grew spontaneously at the edge of a yard in Beechview, where it was blooming in early July.

Gray describes the genus and the species:

MELÍSSA [Tourn.] L. Balm

Calyx with the upper lip flattened and 3-toothed, the lower 2-cleft. Corolla with a recurved-ascending tube. Stamens 4, curved and conniving under the upper lip. Otherwise nearly as Satureja. — Clusters few-flowered, loose, onesided, with few and mostly ovate bracts resembling the leaves. (Name from Melissa, a bee; the flowers yielding abundance of honey.)

M. officinalis L. (COMMON В.) Upright, branching, perennial, pubescent; leaves broadly ovate, crenate-toothed, lemon-scented ; corolla nearly white. — Sparingly escaped from gardens. (Introd. from Eu.)

A stately member of the mint family, whose straight and tall spikes would not be out of place in a formal perennial garden. This plant was one of a large colony growing in a hillside clearing in Scott Township, where they were blooming in early July.

Gray describes the genus and the species:

TEÙCRIUM [Tourn.] L. Germander

Calyx 5-toothed. Corolla with the 4 upper lobes nearly equal, oblong, turned forward, so that there seems to be no upper lip; the lower lobe much larger. Stamens 4, exserted from the deep cleft between the 2 upper lobes of the corolla; anther-cells confluent. (Named for Teucer, king of Troy.)

* Perennials; leaves merely dentate or serrate; inflorescences terminal, spiciform.

+ Inflorescence cylindric; calyx densely pubescent.

T. canadénse L. (American G., Wood Sage.) Stems 1 m. or less high, appressed-pubescent, simple or branched; leaves lanceolate to ovate, serrate, 2.6-5 cm. broad, rounded or narrowed at base, ehort-petioled, hoary beneath, green and glabrous or sparingly appressed-pubescent but scarcely papillose above; whorls about 6-flowered, crowded in long and simple wand-like racemes; calyx canescent-pannose, the 3 upper lobes very obtuse, or the middle one acutish; corolla 1.6-2 cm. long, purplish, pink, or sometimes cream-color. — Rich low ground, N. E. to Neb., and southw. July-Sept.