Effect On Cats, Rats and Slime Mold
An unusual feature of valerian is that valerian root and leaves are a cat attractant similar to, and as safe as catnip. Valerian contains the cat attractant actinidine. Cat attractants might mimic the odor of cat urine, which is caused by 3-mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol (MMB). Anecdotal reports claim that valerian is also attractive to rats—so much so that it had been used to bait traps. Stories describe the Pied Piper of Hamelin using both his pipes and valerian to attract rats. Research also shows that valerian root is the strongest chemo-attractant of slime molds (Physarum polycephalum).
Read more about this topic: Valerian (herb)
Famous quotes containing the words effect on, effect, rats, slime and/or mold:
“Airplanes are invariably scheduled to depart at such times as 7:54, 9:21 or 11:37. This extreme specificity has the effect on the novice of instilling in him the twin beliefs that he will be arriving at 10:08, 1:43 or 4:22, and that he should get to the airport on time. These beliefs are not only erroneous but actually unhealthy.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)
“Reckoned physiologically, everything ugly weakens and afflicts man. It recalls decay, danger, impotence; he actually suffers a loss of energy in its presence. The effect of the ugly can be measured with a dynamometer. Whenever man feels in any way depressed, he senses the proximity of something “ugly.” His feeling of power, his will to power, his courage, his pride—they decline with the ugly, they increase with the beautiful.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“God damn it, father-doctor.
I’m really thirty-six.
I see dead rats in the toilet.
I’m one of the lunatics.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“Clean the spittoons.
The steam in hotel kitchens,
And the smoke in hotel lobbies,
And the slime in hotel spittoons:
Part of my life.”
—Langston Hughes (1902–1967)
“O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!
The courtier’s, soldier’s, scholar’s,eye, tongue, sword,
Th’ expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mold of form,
Th’ observed of all observers, quite, quite down!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)