Catnip
Nepeta cataria
In the Carolinas and Georgia, found in fencerows, barnyards, disturbed areas. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Arkansas. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 71%
- Height
- 1–4 feet
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Dry to somewhat dry
No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Do not plant. Listed invasive in Arkansas.
Plant this instead
Choose your county to list local plants first.
No recorded swaps for this county. Try the garden finder.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- July to October
Not yet recorded · Spread
Recorded in 7 Arkansas counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Also found with this plant
Wildlife whose habitat models include habitats this plant grows in, in Arkansas. Shared habitat, not food. 28 animals.
Widespread birds also seen here (35)
Found in many habitats here, so not listed above.
- American Goldfinch
- American Kestrel
- American Robin
- Bank Swallow
- Blue Grosbeak
- Chimney Swift
- Chipping Sparrow
- Cliff Swallow
- Common Nighthawk
- Cooper's Hawk
- Dark-eyed Junco
- Eastern Bluebird
- Eastern Kingbird
- Eurasian Collared-dove
- European Starling
- Great Horned Owl
- Indigo Bunting
- Mallard
- Mourning Dove
- Northern Flicker
- Northern Mockingbird
- Pileated Woodpecker
- Pine Siskin
- Prairie Warbler
- Purple Finch
- Red-headed Woodpecker
- Red-tailed Hawk
- Red-winged Blackbird
- Rusty Blackbird
- Sharp-shinned Hawk
- Spotted Sandpiper
- Tree Swallow
- Turkey Vulture
- Wild Turkey
- Yellow-breasted Chat
Who uses this plant?
2CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AR
Genus host records with ranges including AR · Nepeta
- Urbanus proteusLong-Tailed Skipper, Bean Leaf Roller
- Xanthotype urticariaFalse Crocus Geometer
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Nepeta
- Acanthis flammeaCommon Redpoll
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- Lamiaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 3a–9b
- Flower color
- Purple or white
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “July to October” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Purple or white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Hardiness · “Zones 3a–9b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “1–4 feet” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Occasionally dry; Very dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Catmint
Conservation status
| Arkansas rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| AR status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Sources
- Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Arkansas (2013)
- USDA PLANTS
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition
- NatureServe Explorer
- Arkansas occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications