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<blockquote cite="mid20070403155221.GA1318@fiedlerfamily.net"
type="cite">For SCA-period purposes, catnip and cat-mint, nep, or
catnep appear to <br>
<pre wrap="">be slightly different. The plant referred to as nep appears to be what
we call Calamint, lesser calamint, or Calamintha nepeta
Catnip (Nepeta Cataria) is traditionally considered a uterine stimulant,
which may be where the issue comes in; or it may be that Calamint is not
classified by the USDA as "Generally Recognized as Safe" (which means it
has a history of being used in this country and no major side effects
reported.)
</pre>
</blockquote>
indicating italics with _ _ , which means it's a foreign, in this
case, Latin, word. Yahoo will probably wipe out my italicization.<br>
<br>
Both Culpeper ( Complete Herbal and English Physician, 1652 see online
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.bibliomania.com/2/1/66/113/frameset.html">http://www.bibliomania.com/2/1/66/113/frameset.html</a> same at
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.med.yale.edu/library/historical/culpeper/culpeper.htm">http://www.med.yale.edu/library/historical/culpeper/culpeper.htm</a> ) and
Gerard (The Herbal or General History of Plants, unabridged, 1633)
clearly distinguish calamint, also called mountain mint, from catmint,
also called nep. I don't find the name catnip at all. Gerard
recognizes several catmints: (no descriptor, small and great) and four
calamints (one with no descriptor other than mountain mint as a
synonym, a second calamint called mountain mint which he calls the most
excellent, common calamint and field calamint). Gerard discusses
Dioscorides's plants unders calamint, thinks one of the calamints is
the "true _Nepeta_ of the Ancients" but uses "nep" to refer to catnip
and comments that "nep has all the virtues of the calamints".<br>
<br>
Tony Hunt, in Plant names of Medieval England, 1989, says calamint, <i>_Calamintha</i>_
species, was Calamentum Maius, or gallice calamente, or calament,
calamynte, wyld calamynt, anglice calamynte, and anglice nepte vel
calamynte<br>
while catmint, catnip, _<i>Nepeta cataria</i>_ was Calamentum Minus,
gallice nepte, anglice cateminte nepte, kattismete (or kattismente),
gallice nepte, anglice cattesmynte, cattesmynte, cattismynt<br>
<br>
The more I looked, the more I think it's calamint in the old herbals,
not catnip, and that nep(eta) was originally calamint and is now
catnip. Jadwiga, where do you find nep documented as calamint in
Period? See entries in Culpeper and Gerard, above.<br>
<br>
Earlier herbals: <br>
The recent translation of Hildegarde von Bingen's Physica lists<i>
_nebetta</i>_ which the translator called catnip. <br>
<br>
I have a copy of Macer, 1200, translated from the Latin, which gives
catnip, <i>_Nepeta cataria</i>_, and begins "catnip is called _<i>calamentum_</i>
in greek..." I wonder if the translator got it wrong. <br>
<br>
In Dioscorides (The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides, 1933 edition,
translation from 1655) there's a section for Kalaminthe, (subtitled
Mentha Sylvestris by someone later), He describes three kinds of
Calaminthe, one mountanious, one like Pulegium (pennyroyal) but
stronger, called Nepeta by the Romans and a third from fields. The
uses appear to apply to all. <br>
<br>
Dioscorides' only other entry that could be catnip/catmint/calamint is
probably _Glecoma_, ground ivy, but is a very brief entry.<br>
<br>
I have a middle period facsimilie [Medicina Antiqua] in Latin where I
find _herba nipeta_, but the picture is a generic mint and my Latin not
good enough to get any insight.<br>
I don't spot either catnip or catmint in the <i>_Tacunium sanitatis_<br>
<br>
</i>Pollington's reprint of Anglo Saxon herbals describes catnip,
nepeta, from the AS herbals and makes no mention of calamint. <br>
<br>
All the modern translations hang on the idea that nepeta = catnip in
Latin or classical Medieval usages and I'm suddenly doubtful. As
noted, Gerard says that one of the calamints is the "_Nepeta_ of the
Ancients" I could write that off as Gerard's error. But calamint
seems to be a major herb and catnip is a minor one these days and
calamint a major one. Is that valid, you-all? If true, then to say
the old entries are catnip not calamint means they used catnip more
than calamint, and we now use calamint more, medicinally. Mixing up
the plant names seems a more likely error than a switch in plant
efficacy. But I see several problems with my argument.<br>
<br>
The important, lesser calamint, the only one in the PDR for Herbal
Medicine, is _Calaminthus nepeta_. I tried to run down why it's
species name is nepeta, hoping to find someone saying "based on the
Roman name for it" but could not find anything helpful. My English
flora says it's very hard to tell from catmint (catnip): only flower
characters are definitive. <br>
<br>
PDR for Herbal Medicine doesn't raise any particular flags for either,
used in usual dosages (I have the 2nd ed, from 2000), but my focus is
the plants, not their uses.<br>
<br>
I know this is more than anyone wanted and _I_ didn't mean to spend so
much time on it. In summary: end-of-Period English herbals distinguish
cat mint or nep from calamint. Earlier herbals in translation see
"nep" and say it's catnip. That may not be valid. Catnips and
calamints clearly have similar medicinal properties (according to
Gerard) and similar physical characteristics.<br>
<br>
Agnes<br>
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