General
-
Catnip is a perennial herb of the mint family.
-
Catnip contains volatile oils, sterols, acids,
and tannins.
-
Nepeta is a genus of about 250 species of
flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. The
members of this group are known as catnips or
catmints due to its famed liking by cats—nepeta
pleasantly stimulates cats' pheromonic
receptors.
-
Nepeta cataria is weakly psychoactive, variably
eliciting sedation, euphoria, and, in higher
doses, nausea.
Cultivation and Growth
- The plant
is easily propagated by seeds, which remain viable for 4 or 5
years, and may germinate erratically.
- Dry sandy
soil is recommended, but the plant also grows well (and bushier)
on well-drained, moderately rich garden loam.
- Catnip is
a hardy plant that will grow well in much of North America.
- Commercial
harvesting is carried out at full bloom; when seeds begin to
form, the volatile oils have decreased and the plants are past
their prime.
Extraction
Process
- The oil of
catnip was first extracted using the polar solvent diethyl ether
- A common
conventional method used to extract the essential oil from
catnip is steam distillation.
.Application
- Catnip has
been used for ornamental and culinary purposes and as a domestic
folk-medicine remedy.
- Aromatic,
culinary, decorative, and medicinal. Dried leaves add fragrance
to potpourris.
- Catnip is
used to make light yellow dye.
- Catnip is
cultivated as a medicinal plant, bee pasturage, for the
essential oil, and for use as a condiment.
Market
- Producers
with creativity and good marketing skills may be able to capture
a niche of the pet supplies market, which comprises about 20
percent of the more than $30 billion that U.S. pet owners spend
on their animals.
- Based on
2002 projections from British Columbia, two-yearproduction costs
for ¼ acre of catnip in the
U.S. would be $500 to $600, with harvest and marketing costs of
$750 per acre.
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