Catnip.Nepeta Cataria.
Found from July to September, on the roadsides, and about dwellings.
The large square stalk is branching, and rather leafy; it grows between 2 or 3 feet high, and is strong-fibred, downy, and grooved down the middle of each side; its color is light gray-green.
The broad oval leaf is heart-shaped at the base, the edge is cut into large rounded scallops, and the surface is downy. In color it is a grayish-green. The leaves, on very short stems, grow in pairs.
The small flower is 2-lipped; the upper lip is erect, and notched in the middle of the margin, the larger lower lip is 3-lobed, the middle lobe being much the largest. Its color is a lavender tinted white, spotted with lavender dots. The small, tubular, 5-pointed calyx is green. The flowers grow upon the stalk in short spike-like clusters.
The Catnip has a pungent, mint-like odor. It is somewhat sprangling in growth, and only a few flowers open together; but the heart shaped leaf is most pleasing to the touch, because of its fine silky texture.