An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Plant Nepeta cataria (Lamiaceae)

Common Names
Catnip
How this plant is used
Generally Recognized as Safe
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
List of plant chemicals.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Chemical Name Activity Count Plant Part Low Parts Per Million High Parts Per Million Standard Deviation Reference
MYRCENE 22 Plant 8.0 40.0 -0.43 Duke, 1992 *
MYRISTIC-ACID 6 Seed Oil not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
NEONEPETALACTONE 0 Plant not available not available not available Leung, A. Y. and Foster, S. 1995. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients 2nd Ed. John Wiley & Sons, New York. 649 pp.
NEPETALACTONE 5 Essential Oil 600000.0 999000.0 not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETALACTONE 5 Plant 25.0 9900.0 not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETALACTONE 5 Tissue Culture not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETALACTONE-N1 0 Plant 25.0 7400.0 not available Bourrel, C., Perineau, F., Michel, G., Bessiere, J.M. 1993. Catnip (Nepeta cataria L.) Essential Oil: Analysis of Chemical Constituents, Bacteriostatic and Fungistatic Properties. J. Ess. Oil Res., 5: 159-167.
NEPETALIC-ACID 0 Essential Oil not available 1240.0 not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETALIC-ACID 0 Plant 300.0 1300.0 not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETALIC-ANHYDRIDE 0 Plant 1080.0 4680.0 not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETARIASIDE 0 Plant not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETARIASIDE 0 Shoot not available 20.0 not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETASIDE 0 Shoot not available 126.6 not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETOGLUCOSYLESTER 0 Plant not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETOL 0 Plant not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETOL GLUCOSYL ESTER 0 Leaf not available 750.0 not available Duke, 1992 *
NEPETOL-GLUCOSIDE-ESTER 0 Plant not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
NEROL 10 Essential Oil not available 276000.0 1.41 Duke, 1992 *
NEROL 10 Plant not available not available not available Williamson, E. M. and Evans, F. J., Potter's New Cyclopaedia of Botanical Drugs and Preparations, Revised Ed., Saffron Walden, the C. W. Daniel Co., Ltd., Essex UK, 362 pp, 1988, reprint 1989.
NIACIN 39 Plant not available not available not available Duke, 1992 *
View the list of ubiquitous chemicals
List of plant activities.
Click on column headings to sort table by that column. *Unless otherwise noted all references are to (Duke, 1992)
Activity Chemical Count Reference
Quinone-Reductase-Inducer 1 Lee, S. K., Song, Y., Mata-Greenwood, E., Kelloff, G. J., Steele, V. E., Pezzuto, J. M. 1999. Modulation of in vitro Biomarkers of the Carcinogenic Process by Chemopreventive Agents. Anticancer Res., 19: 35-44.
Radioprotective 1 Duke, 1992 *
Respirainhibitor 1 Merck 11th Edition
Respirastimulant 1 Huang, K. C. 1993. The Pharmacology of Chinese Herbs. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 388 pp.
Rubefacient 1 Duke, 1992 *
Sedative 11 Wagner & Wolff, eds. 1977. New Natural Products (RS164. I56. 176)
Serotoninergic 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).
Soap 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Sodium-Sparing 1 Iwu, M.M. 1993. Handbook of African Medicinal Plants. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL 435 pp.
Spermicide 1 Malini, T. and Vanithakumari, G. 1989. Rat Toxicity Studies With B-Sitosterol. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 28: 221-234, 1990.
Spermigenic 1 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Sprout-Inhibitor 1 Duke, J.A.. Personal Communication.
Stimulant 1 R.J. Hixtable (Huxtable, R.J. (as T. Max). 1992. This and That:The Essential Pharmacology of Herbs and Spices. Tips 13:15-20 Huxtable, R.J. 1992b. The Myth of Benficent Nature. The Risk of Herbal Preparations. Anns. Intern. Med. 117(2):165-6; Huxtable, R.
Stomachic 1 Bisset, N.G., ed. 1994. Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. 566 pp.
Suppository 1 Jeffery B. Harborne and H. Baxter, eds. 1983. Phytochemical Dictionary. A Handbook of Bioactive Compounds from Plants. Taylor & Frost, London. 791 pp.
Taenicide 1 Martindale's 28th
Teratogenic 2 Duke, 1992 *
Termitifuge 1 Jacobson, M., Glossary of Plant-Derived Insect Deterrents, CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, FL, 213 p, 1990.
Testosteronigenic 1 Werbach, M. 1993. Healing with Food. Harper Collins, New York, 443 pp.
Thymoprotective 1 Pizzorno, J.E. and Murray, M.T. 1985. A Textbook of Natural Medicine. John Bastyr College Publications, Seattle, Washington (Looseleaf).