Nepeta cataria Lamiaceae, most commonly known as catnip or catmint, is an imperishable, herbaceous, shrub species belonging to the family Lamiaceae. The Lamiaceae or Labiatae is a family of flowering plants famed as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Numerous of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil, mint, rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram, oregano, hyssop, thyme, lavender, and perilla, as well as other medicinal herbs such as catnip, salvia, bee balm, wild dagga, and oriental motherwort1.
Nepeta cataria is a perennial herbaceous plant. The root is rod-shaped and long. It is numerous many erect quadrilateral stems, 50-100 cm high. Stems are ramose, extremely glandular pilose with short hairs and sessile glands. Leaves are elliptical, 3.5-8.0×2.5 cm, finely appressed pilose with many sessile glands, greyish beneath, serrate, truncate, or cordate2.

The name catmint is arising from the strong appeal that most cats have towards this N. cataria2. It is famed for this plant as a potent behavior-altering drug, in other words, provokes stupor or euphoria (a feeling or state of intense excitement and happiness) in domestic cats and large wild cats1,2. Because of this, it is frequently used in the pet toy industry as a safe attractant for cats, especially for cats kept indoors to ameliorate the quality of life and to attenuate stress1. The catnip brings out active behaviors in felids, including domestic cats, such as rolling over, chin and cheek rubbing, head shaking, pawing, floor scratching, persistent sniffing, vocalizations, and licking and chewing of the catnip source1. When prepared as a tea it is a sedative and soporific, while in cooking it is used because of its scent. This variety is a good fountain for the artificial production of citral and an attractive raw material in the food industry2,3.
Chemical Aspect
The main compounds liable for this response in cats are nepetalactones4,5. Yet, Nepeta catariavar citriodora or Lemon catnip, an aromatic herb with a lemony-mint flavor, resembles true catnip but is not seductive to cats2. Nepetalactones pertain to the group of iridoid monoterpenoids, which are present in the aerial parts of nepeta plants. 3 The stereochemical diversity of the nepetalactones is contributed to the biosynthetic pathway. Four nepetalactone stereoisomers with differing stereochemistry at the 4a and 7a positions are observed at different rations in various Nepeta species (appertain to as Z, Z-, Z,E-, E,Z- and E,E-) However, metabolism of nepetalactone by Nepeta cataria plants yielded a significant amount of dihydronepetalactone that were bound to plant components2,4,5.
Chemical analysis of the air-dried flowering aerial parts of Nepeta cataria showed 6.2% of moisture, 7.9% of ash, 15.6% crude fiber, 9.1% crude protein, 4.9% crude lipids, and 62.5% carbohydrate. Fixed oil removed from the air-dried flowering aerial parts of Nepeta cataria contained palmitic (20.3%), stearic (18.6%), oleic (14.2%), palmitoleic (9.6%), linoleic (9.3%), myristic (7.2%), linolenic (5.8%), arachidic (4.1%) and lauric (3.7%) acids2.

Production of Catnip
Catnip is produced as a garden herb across much of the United States where it is grown as an ornamental, an herbal tea, for its dried leaves and flowers. Small farmers have reported limited realty in the east coast, Midwest, and Pacific Northwest regions. The larger-scale production of catnip for essential oil has traditionally largely come from the Canadian provinces by those involved in the production of other essential oil crops including mint2,3.
Effects on Humans
Besides the effects on felids, catnip is consumed medicinally as an herbal tea in some traditional cultures for the treatment of fever, diarrhea, insomnia, and adjustment of menstrual cycles inflammation toothaches, as well as a sedative and for alleviation of digestive ailments, including infantile colic, and other conditions. Furthermore, Nepeta cataria has a long history of being used in traditional medicine along with being used daily as a seasoning, tea as soporific and sedative (headaches, pain relief, convulsions) and against gastrointestinal (stomach upsets, diarrhea, vomiting), and respiratory conditions (colds, coughs, asthma, bronchitis, sore throats, pneumonia). It has been used to cause sweating (fever) and to treat female disorders (emmenagogue) and rheumatism1,2. Although it has a remedial aspect to numerous conditions, there are references that Nepeta cataria has a slightly hallucinogenic effect, “cannabis” like, in humans when it is smoked6.
Conclusion
The main applications for Nepeta ssp (subspecies) include the use of this N.cataria as ornamental plants and the use of their bioactive polyphenols and essential oils for health and nutrition. The fresh and dry leaves are utilized in traditional medicines and as herbal teas, while the dry leaves and essentials have been used to captive domestic cats in cat toys. The request for catnip oil, as a promising natural product for the repellent of arthropod insects and other pests, is of increasing interest as a tool to use in support of global health issues relative to mosquitoes, ticks, and other pests that transmit human and animal diseases1.
Catnip essential oils also exhibit promise in the possible development of new medicinal and health applications given their antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, sedative, relaxant, cholesterol-lowering, anti-asthmatic, carminative, diuretic, diaphoretic, febrifuge, vermifuge, herbicidal, anxiolytic, and opioid-like effects. The behavioral outcome of catnip on felines is thought to be due to the interplay of nepetalactone with their opioid receptors1.
Moreover, there is evidence to support that the stereoisomer 4aα,7α,7aα-nepetalactone from the essential oil of Nepeta caesarea has specific opioid receptor subtype agonistic activity, conferring to such natural product significant analgesic and sedative activities1.
References:
- Gomes, E. N. et al. Catnip (Nepeta cataria L.): Recent Advances in Botany, Horticulture and Production. in (2020). doi:10.1007/978-3-030-44930-8_11.
- Zeremski, T., Kiprovski, B., Brdar-, M., Koren, A. & Sikora, V. Nepeta cataria Cultivation, Chemical Composition and Biological Activity. Journal of Agronomy, Technology and Engineering Management 4, (2021).
- Akbar, S. Nepeta cataria L. (Lamiaceae). in Handbook of 200 Medicinal Plants (2020). doi:10.1007/978-3-030-16807-0_134.
- Lichman, B. R. et al. The evolutionary origins of the cat attractant nepetalactone in catnip. Sci Adv 6, (2020).
- Badshah, S. L. & Jehan, R. Density-functional theory of the catnip molecule, nepetalactone. Mol Cell Biochem 477, (2022).
- Small, E. BLOSSOMING TREASURES OF BIODIVERSITY. Biodiversity 11, (2010).
Figure References
- https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Nepeta-cataria-C-A-Gaziev_fig5_333777151
- https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Iridoid-biosynthesis-A-Formation-of-the-open-iridodial-and-closed-nepetalactol_fig1_320806477