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catnip

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Wikipedia 0.03 sec.
catnip or catmint, strong-scented perennial herb (Nepeta cataria) of the family Labiatae (mint mint, in botany, common name for members of the Labiatae, a large family of chiefly annual or perennial herbs. Several species are shrubby or climbing forms or, rarely, small trees.
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 family), native to Europe and Asia but naturalized in the United States. A tea of the leaves and flowing tops has long been used as a domestic remedy for various ailments. Catnip is best known for its stimulating effect on cats. Catnip is classified in the division Magnoliophyta Magnoliophyta (măg'nōlēŏf`ətə)
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, class Magnoliopsida, order Lamiales, family Labiatae.

catnip

 or catmint

Enlarge picture
Catnip (Nepeta cataria).
(credit: Walter Chandoha)
Aromatic herb (Nepeta cataria) of the mint family. Catnip has spikes of small, purple-dotted flowers. It has been used as a seasoning and as a medicinal tea for colds and fever. Because its mintlike flavour and aroma are particularly exciting to domestic cats, it is often used as a stuffing for cat toys.


CATNIP - Common Architecture for Next Generation Internet Protocol


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Beth had old-fashioned fragrant flowers in her garden, sweet peas and mignonette, larkspur, pinks, pansies, and southernwood, with chickweed for the birds and catnip for the pussies.
The neighbour ran, and in came a brisk little old lady in cap and specs, with a bundle of herbs under her arm, which she at once applied in all sorts of funny ways, explaining their virtues as she clapped a plantain poultice here, put a pounded catnip plaster there, or tied a couple of mullein leaves round the sufferer's throat.
A fisherman, it is true, had noticed her little footprints in the sand, as he went homeward along the beach with a basket of fish; a rustic had seen the child stooping to gather flowers; several persons had heard either the rattling of chariot wheels, or the rumbling of distant thunder; and one old woman, while plucking vervain and catnip, had heard a scream, but supposed it to be some childish nonsense, and therefore did not take the trouble to look up.
 
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