About plants, people and cats

By: Amots Dafni and Saleh Akel Khativ

The cat was already known from Egypt about 6000 years ago and arrived in Israel by the Egyptian garrison during the second millennium BC. The cat is not mentioned in the Bible. According to things that appear in the Talmud, it is clear that the cat was a domestic animal that was bred for the purpose of destroying mice and snakes.

Hagad Gadiya in the distribution of tzalkanit seeds

The edible scarab (Carpobrotus edulis) was brought to Israel, apparently, before the establishment of the state as a cover plant for gardens. From there it invaded, especially in the last two decades, along the coastal sands, and it continues to occupy new territories, as it does in many countries. The plant reproduces vigorously by means of branches along which young shoots develop. In some of the islands of the Mediterranean, a "cooperation" was found between three invasive species: scarabs, rats and house cats that went wild. The rats eat the fruits, and the passage of the seeds through the digestive tract increases the rate of germination in a season when food is scarce. The cats eat the rats, and it was found that the secondary distribution of seeds by the cats that ate rats, is to a greater distance compared to the original distribution through the rats alone. No sprouts have yet been reported in Israel, and apparently there is no one who eats the fruits and thus enables germination, and perhaps they simply weren't looking for them. 

How to please cats?

Cat Nepeta (Nepeta cataria) is a plant of the Nepeta family that is common from southern Europe to Korea, but is not found in Israel. The famous Persian scholar Al Biruni (1048-937) was the first to note the special affection of cats for this plant, and called it by the name of cat grass - "Hashishaat al-Hir", "Hashisha Al-Har". In the 16th century it was called in England by the name "cat mint". The active substance that affects cats is called Nepetalactone and was identified as early as 1941. Since then many studies have been conducted on the effect of this compound on different cats and its possible uses. 

One of the studies showed that only about two-thirds of the cats react to the presence of the plant (or extracts from it) and show a change in behavior such as rolling over, self-licking and making sounds that depend on the cat's sex and age. Today, cat lovers are offered bags containing dry leaves of this plant or preparations made from them, in order to make the hearts of domestic animals happy, for example by impregnating substances extracted from the Nefit. One of the articles that dealt with the subject calls the cats' reaction a "delightful behavior". The presence of the nifty caused the cats that participated in the experiment, among other things, to scratch their claws for a longer time in a scratching device.

Anyone who has raised cats will appreciate this very much. Perhaps by using the napkin it is possible to ensure that the cats stay at home more and reduce their adventurous journeys to bring dead animals to the home owner. One of the studies that examined the behavior of cats as a response to cat litter recommends that scented enrichment of cat litter may be a means of improving the quality of life of cats and calming them down. According to one source, lions and tigers in the circus cooperated more after smelling the plant. According to a popular belief from England, the Nephit makes cats to be calm and humans to be hostile.

 
Cats with plant names

• Cat's claws: its Arabic name is "cat's testicles", beitz al-kut (the cat's egg). It originates from the apple base of some seeds. The Hebrew name was proposed by Ephraim the Reuven because of the similarity of the seeds to the clenched claws of a cat in preparation for extraction, especially in Israelite cat's claws. Also, the land of Israel is called in Syria "Cat's testicles" to denote the blossoming of the apples. Spread cat's paw: the scientific name of the genus is Aeluropus, which means "cat's paw" (aelurus means cat, and pous means foot), referring to the flattened oat that resembles a cat's paw. 
• Square willow: called in Arabic the tails of cats, "adnab al-kuta" (cat's tails), perhaps because of the appearance of the plant when dispersing the seeds. 
• Keded Kahiri: In Arabic, the cat's genitalia is called "zub al-kit" (زب القتّ), probably because of the shape of the petals before they retire. 
• Toph Matsui: called in Arabic the cat's whiskers, "Shwarb al-Basin (shwarb al-basinah), because the tendril (the thread-like side leaf) reminds the cat's whiskers. Ephraim the Reuben proposed to adopt the name "cat's whiskers" as a Hebrew name for the plant.
• Israelite symbiont: called in Arabic the cat's eye, "Ein al-Biss" (the eye of the sheep), because its flower has red petals and a black center (stamens and ovary) reminiscent of a cat's eye. Another name in Arabic for this plant is the cat's genital, "Hanun al-Bess" (Hanun al-Bas), and its origin is, apparently, in the flower bed that lengthens after flowering.

Epilogue

Cats were not popular with our ancestors or with the Arabs in Israel, and it is no wonder that few names of plants are associated with this animal. The interactions described between cats and plants are not directly related to human intervention. In the case of the cat litter, humans take advantage of cats' attraction to it to amuse and calm them. This is despite the fact that we still do not have a biological explanation for the evolutionary advantage that the plant has in attracting cats, which seem to be of no use to it.

of:
Daphne, A. and S.E. Khatib (2024)
Roots, roses and kings
Pardes Haifa Publishing House