BuyCatnip / The plant
The catnip plant, and how it differs from catmint
Catnip is a plant before it is a product. Knowing its real name saves you from buying the wrong pot at the garden center.
Catnip, catmint, cat grass
Three names get mixed up. Catnip is one species, Nepeta cataria. Catmint is the name garden centers use for other Nepeta, grown for their blue flowers. Cat grass is not a Nepeta at all: it is a tray of young grass that some cats like to chew. If you want the plant that makes cats roll, look for the Latin name Nepeta cataria on the label.
Growing your own
Catnip is a perennial: it comes back each year and stands up to cold winters. Grow it where your cat cannot flatten it while it is young, or in a pot you bring out for play. Pick a few leaves and bruise them to release the smell.
- Read the plant tag for the Latin name before you buy.
- A pot is easier to keep away from a curious cat than a garden bed.
- Dried leaves from your own plant store well in a closed jar.
Good to know
- Catnip is Nepeta cataria, an herb of the mint family that is native to Eurasia.1,2
- The active chemical in catnip is nepetalactone.1,3,4
- The garden plants sold as catmint are usually other Nepeta, such as Nepeta x faassenii, not catnip itself.3,4
- Catnip is a hardy herbaceous perennial.2,5
How we checked this page
Checked on October 20, 2026. We kept a fact only when two independent publishers agree, and each one is numbered to its sources below. Where sources give different numbers, we keep only what they share. We never write a price. This page was written with an AI assistant and checked against the sources below.
Sources
- catnip, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Catnip, Nepeta cataria, University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension
- Catnip and Catmint (Jeff Schalau, 2017), University of Arizona Cooperative Extension
- Catmints and catnip: which is purrfect for your garden?, University of Minnesota Extension
- Nepeta cataria, Royal Horticultural Society