Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Catnip - Nepeta cataria   L.
Members of Lamiaceae:
Only member of Nepeta in NC.
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Section 6 » Order Lamiales » Family Lamiaceae
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AuthorL.
DistributionMostly in the Mountains; scattered east to the inner Coastal Plain. Absent from the Sandhills and the central and eastern Coastal Plain. First collected in 1930 at a farmyard in Haywood County.

Native of Eurasia; in N.A. throughout except FL.
AbundanceFrequent in the Mountains; rare to uncommon elsewhere.
HabitatBarnyards, pig lot, garden weed, pathside mulch, meadow, river edge, rocky slope.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting July-October.
IdentificationCatnip stems are usually much branched and 2-3 feet tall. The leaves are noticeably triangular in shape (the base the shortest side), with marginal teeth. The plant is essentially covered with very short, dense, fine pubescence. The flowers are white, the lower lobe dotted with purple; they grow from axils and terminally in dense to loose clusters.
Taxonomic Comments
Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE
Global RankGNR
State Status
US Status
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USACE-empFACU link
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B.A. SorrieRoadside, Teddy Roosevelt NP, SD, July 2020. Photo_non_NCPhoto_non_NC