Cat mint (figure)
Is Schizonepeta catnip?
The official Chinese name of catnip is Schizonepeta, and its scientific name is Nepetacataria. It belongs to a perennial herb of Schizonepeta in Labiatae, and is purely distant from the real mint Mentha in botany.
Its generic name Nepeta comes from a city in ancient Italy called Nepa, where it was once rich in this plant. The name Cataria comes from the Latin word Catus, which means the plant that cats like.
Because it looks a bit like mint and has a strong fragrance, people prefer to call it catnip rather than Schizonepeta in real life.
In English, it is also called Catnip, Catswort or Catmint, which means it has something to do with cats anyway.
The origin of catnip has been distributed from Eastern Europe to the western part of China, and the altitude distribution ranges from sea level to nearly 2500m, which means that it has strong adaptability and is very easy to grow. It needs to be ensured that it gets enough sunshine and has strong tolerance to water, humidity and drought.
As a perennial plant, it has a certain clonal growth habit, so it is easy to manage. It has a long flowering period and beautiful plants, and is a common landscape plant in many parks and botanical gardens.
However, due to the long-term artificial cultivation and domestication, and the different adaptation to habitats in different places, it is difficult to recognize it without certain experience when it is not flowering.
More interestingly, the official Chinese name of catnip in flora is Schizonepeta tenuifolia.
Nepeta is the long genus of Nepeta, but it has almost completely abandoned its family team of Nepeta in real life. People only remember it as catnip, but the name of Schizonepeta is occupied by many other plants.
Schizonepeta tenuifolia (fig.)
Is catnip eaten by Henan people?
Schizonepeta tenuifolia and catnip eaten by Henan people are not the same thing. Although catnip belongs to Schizonepeta, it is different from Schizonepeta in traditional Chinese medicine.
They are closely related, but they can only be brothers and cannot be generalized. Therefore, catnip is generally called pseudoschizonepeta and pseudoschizonepeta.
Its effect and taste are different. Schizonepeta tenuifolia, a vegetable eaten in Henan province of China, is a traditional Chinese medicine, which can dispel wind and ward off evil spirits and has a slightly spicy taste.
Catnip, on the other hand, is cool and refreshing, tastes refreshing, and has actinidine that cats like. Therefore, when buying catnip and Schizonepeta tenuifolia, we must distinguish the varieties according to the demand.
Schizonepeta tenuifolia eaten by Henan people (Figure)
The difference between catnip and Schizonepeta tenuifolia.
Schizonepeta tenuifolia is not catnip. Catnip is a kind of mint, which belongs to herbaceous plants. It does not need to be planted, and its natural growth is pungent and cool.
Schizonepeta tenuifolia needs to be planted every year. It tastes cooler than mint, and the seeds can be used as medicine and edible.