TOKYO, May 28 – Giving silver vines to cats? Yes, but lisianthus flowers can also make your cats happy. The National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) has published that lisianthus flowers possess scent components like iridoids and actinidine, like silver vine, which attract cats.
This is the first time these components have been found in the types of flowers sold as cut flowers. This property will likely become a new advantage of lisianthus, which is already famous for its wide variety of colors and shapes and good keeping quality.
NARO analyzed 13 breeds, including New Lination White, with a weak, sweet scent. Then, 36 chemical compounds, including iridoids and actinidine, were detected in the flowers of New Lination White and iridoids in all 12 other breeds.
Cats enjoy licking, gnawing, and rubbing their bodies against silver vine leaves, but it was also known that they show similar reactions to lisianthus flowers. “If cat lovers take notice of lisianthus, they can be a new promising customer base,” said NARO.
The new finding was published in the scientific journal The Horticulture Journal on March 12. Lisianthus flowers are reported to be safe for cats.