Species
+

Nepeta racemosa Lam.

Eastern Cat-mint, Raceme Catnip, eastern catmint

Climate known 83 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Nepeta racemosa, the dwarf catnip or raceme catnip, syn. N. mussiniii, is a species of flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to the Caucasus, Turkey and northern Iran. Growing to 30 cm (12 in) tall by 45 cm (18 in) wide, it is a herbaceous perennial with aromatic leaves and violet or lilac-blue flowers in summer.

Text from Wikipedia, “Nepeta racemosa”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Nepeta

Nepeta is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae. The genus name, from Latin nepeta (“catnip”), is reportedly in reference to Nepete, an ancient Etruscan city. There are 295 accepted species.

Text from Wikipedia, “Nepeta”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Lamiaceae
Described by
Lam.
Native to
Transcaucasus, Iran, Turkey
Wild records
74 in range· 53 open

At a glance

Warmest month
23°C
Aug, mean day; nights 13 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
678mm/yr
12 wet months · peak May 98 mm (CHELSA)
Light
14–42DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a summer growing season, March to July and October to November in the northern hemisphere (March to July and October to November at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 678 mm a year, wettest May at 98 mm, driest December at 35 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 42 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -17.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Glechoma racemosa (Lam.) Kuntze; Nepeta grandiflora var. racemosa (Lam.) Kusn.; Nepeta mussinii Spreng. ex Henckel.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a summer growing season, March to July and October to November in the northern hemisphere (March to July and October to November at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the year's rain (484 mm of 678 mm) falls in March to July and October to November, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 8.8 °C against a yearly mean of 6.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: September to January and April to May.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 678 mm a year, wettest May at 98 mm, driest December at 35 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

678 mm a year at the habitat, 484 mm of it March to July and October to November. Wettest month May at 98 mm, driest December at 35 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 547 mm to 1023 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 42 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 14 to 42 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 11, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -17.8 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -17.8 °C, the absolute minimum -24.7 °C, about 153 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 29.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night -10.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells -14.5 °C to -6.0 °C), warmest day 23.4 °C in August (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -17.8 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 60% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from -1 °C in Jan to 23 °C in Aug; mean night from -10 °C in Jan to 13 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 678 mm of rain a year, most in May. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 61 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -24.7 °C and the 99th-percentile day 29.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost29.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-24.7° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 14–42RH 56–60 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 61 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C-1 / -5–4-1 / -4–44 / 0–811 / 7–1515 / 12–2020 / 17–2523 / 20–2823 / 20–2820 / 17–2414 / 11–176 / 3–101 / -3–5
Night °C-10 / -15–-6-9 / -13–-5-6 / -9–-1-0 / -3–54 / 2–109 / 7–1413 / 10–1713 / 10–179 / 6–134 / 1–8-3 / -6–1-8 / -12–-4
Rain mm36 / 23–10344 / 33–10661 / 44–13488 / 67–14998 / 69–12979 / 34–11646 / 17–7740 / 12–6739 / 14–6160 / 43–9152 / 41–12735 / 24–100
DLI17 / 13–2023 / 20–2631 / 26–3336 / 32–3939 / 35–4442 / 39–5042 / 38–4938 / 33–4431 / 26–3723 / 19–2717 / 14–2014 / 11–17
RH %59 / 56–6259 / 57–6160 / 57–6260 / 55–6359 / 52–6557 / 48–6557 / 45–6656 / 44–6557 / 45–6560 / 52–6560 / 56–6359 / 56–63

Each figure is the median across the 61 grid cells holding the 68 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 988:4499 (40.575, 44.975). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -24.7 °C, 1st-percentile night -17.8 °C, 99th-percentile day 29.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 61 distinct grid cells holding the 68 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 988:4499 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 40.50_45.000, lapse-corrected -44 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2011 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeTranscaucasus, Iran, Turkey· introduced: Great Britain, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Spain, New Zealand South, Colorado, New York
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker40.503, 44.978 · in the densest population, 50 records (68% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 74 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 53 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 9 km away. 1327 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 6 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 74 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Nepeta racemosaNepeta racemosaNepeta racemosaNepeta racemosaNepeta racemosaNepeta racemosaNepeta racemosaNepeta racemosa

Photographs: (c) Jared Shorma, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Patrick Hacker, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) Igor Balashov, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Nepeta racemosa, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Gland Development on Leaf Surfaces of Nepeta racemosa
Timothy M. Bourett, Richard J. Howard, Daniel P. O’Keefe, D. L. Hallahan (1994) · International Journal of Plant Sciences
Simplified Isolation Procedure and Interconversion of the Diastereomers of Nepetalactone and Nepetalactol
Ilme Liblikas, Ellen M. Santangelo, Johan Sandell, Peter Bæckström (2005) · Journal of Natural Products
Purification and Characterization of an Acyclic Monoterpene Primary Alcohol:NADP+ Oxidoreductase from Catmint (Nepeta racemosa)
D. L. Hallahan, Jevon M. West, R. M. Wallsgrove, D. W. M. Smiley (1995) · Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics
Chemical composition of the essential oil of Nepeta racemosa Lam. from Iran
Minoo Dabiri, Fatemeh Sefidkon (2003) · Flavour and Fragrance Journal
Analysis of monoterpenoids in glandular trichomes of the catmint Nepeta racemosa
L. J. Clark, James G. Hamilton, June V. Chapman, Michael Rhodes (1997) · The Plant Journal
Composition of the Essential Oil of Nepeta racemosa Lam.
K. Hüsnü Can Başer, Т. Оzеk, Ali Akgül, G. Tümen (1993) · Journal of Essential Oil Research
Antibacterial and fungicidal activities of ethanol extracts of 38 species of plants
V. V. Zazharskyi, P. О. Davydenko, О. М. Кулішенко, І. В. Боровик (2020) · Biosystems Diversity
Compostion of the Essential Oil of Nepeta racemosa Lam. from Iran
Abdolhossein Rustaiyan, Morteza Khosravi, Kambiz Larijany, Shiva Masoudi (2000) · Journal of Essential Oil Research
Cytochrome P-450-catalysed monoterpenoid oxidation in catmint (Nepeta racemosa) and avocado (Persea americana); evidence for related enzymes with different activities
D. L. Hallahan, Susanna K. P. Lau, Patricia A. Harder, D. W. M. Smiley (1994) · Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects
Nepetalactol oxidoreductase in trichomes of the catmint Nepeta racemosa
D. L. Hallahan, Jevon M. West, D. W. M. Smiley, John A. Pickett (1998) · Phytochemistry
Cytochrome P-450 in Plant/Insect Interactions: Geraniol 10-Hydroxylase and the Biosynthesis of Iridoid Monoterpenoids
David L. Hallahan,, Jeremy M. West (1995) · Drug metabolism and drug interactions
Nepetaracemosides A and B, Iridoid Glucosides from Nepeta racemosa.
Yoshio Takeda, Yuuko Kiba, Toshiya Masuda, Hideaki Otsuka (1999) · Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Nepeta 1 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 74 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.