What potted mosquito-repellent plants are there for summer? These 9 kinds will make you unafraid of mosquitoes in summer

Once summer arrives, it is the season when mosquitoes appear and are frequently active. They not only disturb people's sleep but also leave you covered in bites and bumps. Hanging a mosquito net feels troublesome, while lighting mosquito coils or using insect repellent is too harmful to the respiratory tract. So what plants can repel mosquitoes?

1. Mosquito-repellent geranium

Mosquito-repellent geranium can release some natural essential oils that have a repellent effect on mosquitoes and insects. Mosquito-repellent geranium has relatively strong adaptability and is a perennial herbaceous plant that can be grown indoors and outdoors. It gives off a lush lemon fragrance all year round and has the effect of repelling mosquitoes and insects and purifying the air. It truly achieves natural biological mosquito repellence without spraying chemicals or using smoke.

2. Mint

First, the peppermint oil, menthone and menthol contained in mint are easily diffused and can, to a certain extent, drive mosquitoes away. Second, mint also contains insect-repellent essential oil. This essential oil has a very mild scent and is harmless to the human body. Therefore, it can be used as an indoor insect-repellent fragrance, and its effect is most obvious in summer when used as a spray or incense.

In summer, when there are more mosquitoes and insects, mint can be placed near the window in the bedroom. In the evening, spraying water on the mint leaves helps the fresh scent of mint spread and drives mosquitoes and insects away. After being bitten by mosquitoes or insects, mint leaves can also be ground into juice and applied to the bite area, which has a good itch-relieving effect and feels cool and comfortable after use.

3. Jasmine

It contains medicinal components such as jasmine flavonoids and mannitol. Its floral fragrance is rich. Placed indoors in summer, it can keep mosquitoes and insects away.

4. Lavender

Lavender is also known as: perfume plant, spirit fragrance grass, fragrant grass, yellow fragrant grass, lavandula.

Lavender originated in the Mediterranean. Its light purple flower spikes are soft, long and beautiful like small ears of grain, with gray-green leaves. When the flowers bloom in masses, they are like a purple blanket spread over the fields, truly magnificent. Smell it lightly and there is a pleasant fragrance that gives a refreshing feeling. You should know that this fragrance also has the wonderful use of repelling mosquitoes. It is precisely this fragrant substance that mosquitoes dislike. You can plant it indoors or dry it in the sun and make it into a sachet and place it on an indoor table, both of which have mosquito-repellent effects. You can even pick its petals and put them in water when bathing for a petal bath. When a lingering fragrance remains on your body, it can still keep mosquitoes and insects away from you!

5. Night-blooming jessamine

Night-blooming jessamine belongs to the Solanaceae family and the genus Cestrum. It is native to South America and is an evergreen shrub, also known by aliases such as evening primrose and night fragrant flower. It is a perennial vine-like twining herb distributed in Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong and Taiwan, China, and other places. It is a semi-wild vegetable for which fresh flowers and flower buds are eaten. In addition to being ornamental, the flowers can be used in dishes and as medicine, with the effect of clearing the liver and improving eyesight. They can treat red, swollen and painful eyes, measles affecting the eyes, corneal opacities and so on. Whenever summer and autumn come, clusters of yellow-green bell-shaped small flowers bloom in the leaf axils, and when the moon rises above the treetops, it sends out waves of delicate fragrance. This scent makes mosquitoes afraid, making it an excellent mosquito-repellent product.

6. Dalmatian chrysanthemum

Dalmatian chrysanthemum is a special family within the Asteraceae plants. It is called Dalmatian chrysanthemum because its flower center is rich in insecticidal active substances called pyrethrins or pyrethroids, which have significant insecticidal effects. The insecticidal characteristic of pyrethrins lies in their neurotoxicity. Once pests come into contact with them, they quickly embed themselves in the pest's nervous system and rapidly knock down and kill the pests. However, this property does not affect the nervous systems of humans and mammals, nor does it remain in the bodies of mammals. It also has broad-spectrum insecticidal activity, and because its insecticidal mechanism is complex, it is not prone to developing resistance. Moreover, in natural environments it easily decomposes rapidly into water and carbon dioxide, leaving no toxic substances behind. Perhaps precisely because of these advantages, Dalmatian chrysanthemum, native to West Asia, became one of the first insecticidal plants discovered and widely used by humans, and it is currently the only intensively cultivated insecticidal plant in the world.

7. Mugwort

Mugwort is also known as: Xiaomao, Bingtai, Eco, Xiangai, Qiai, Aixiao, Aihao, Ai, Penggao, Ai, moxa herb, medical herb, yellow herb, moxa wool and so on.

Mugwort was recorded as early as in the Shennong Bencao Jing, and because its nature and flavor are bitter, pungent and warm, it is used to regulate qi and dispel damp-cold and so on. Of course, besides medicinal use, its mosquito-repellent effect is also quite good. Plant a few stems in summer, and the faint volatile aromatic oils can effectively drive away mosquitoes and insects. The essential oil components extracted from it can even be sprinkled indoors or applied to exposed parts of the body. While repelling mosquitoes, it can also sterilize. If you have dried mugwort, you can light a small amount and fumigate the room, which is also a good way to repel mosquitoes.

8. Marigold

Marigold is an annual herbaceous plant and an ideal raw material for extracting pure natural yellow pigment. In Africa it is called Kajibu Xu, and it is commonly seen hanging under the thatched huts of indigenous people to drive away swarms of flies. Marigold has a pungent odor, and mosquitoes and insects dare not approach it. It is a special, excellent natural insect repellent.

9. Pitcher plant

Pitcher plant is a famous tropical carnivorous plant, mainly native to tropical Asia. Pitcher plant has a unique organ for absorbing nutrients——the pitcher, which is cylindrical with a slightly swollen lower part and a lid on the mouth of the pitcher. Because its shape resembles a pig cage, it is called pitcher plant. In Hainan, China, it is also called Leigong pot, meaning it resembles a wine pot. Because the soil in its native habitat is poor, pitcher plant supplements nutrients by catching insects and other small animals, so it is a member of the carnivorous plants.

There are dozens of species of pitcher plants. Different species also have different shapes, sizes and colors of insect-catching pitchers. Pitcher plant can be used medicinally and has certain therapeutic effects on diseases such as hepatitis, stomach pain, high blood pressure and colds. It is especially good at catching mosquitoes.

Besides these mosquito-repellent plants, there are also many other mosquito-repellent plants such as orange jasmine and basil, known as the “king of spices&rdquo, and so on.

Note:

At present there is a great deal of research on mosquito-repellent plants, and opinions on their expected effectiveness vary, with both positive and negative views. In fact, viewed from the perspective of the mosquito-repellent plants themselves, they do have a relatively strong mosquito-repellent effect. At least as far as these mosquito-repellent plants are concerned, mosquitoes dare not approach and retreat three away. If used by humans in living rooms, combined with ventilation, their mosquito-repellent effect is certainly not as good as artificial products, and mosquito-repellent plants only repel mosquitoes but do not have a mosquito-killing effect, so mosquitoes may still exist. If you want to completely say goodbye to mosquitoes, it is best to obediently hang up a mosquito net or use non-toxic plant-based mosquito-repellent products.