Formosan Entomologist (2005) 25, 221-230

Ji-Sen Hwang and Err-Lieh Hsu (2005)
[The repellent effect of several repellent plants on the mosquito and house fly]
Formosan Entomologist 25 (4), 221-230
Abstract: Ten common repellent plants from domestic commercial market, including hot pepper, spearmint, camphor tree, cupressus gold crest, santa barbara rosemary, blue spires rosemary, lavender, lemon balm, lemon grass, citrus and sage, were evaluated for repellent effect on some household pests. A no-choice test was used, and the efficacy evaluation was by repellent rate after 30 min. Results showed that 6 plant species were effective at repelling Aedes aegypti. The spearmint had the highest repellent rate (85.2%) after 30 min, followed by lavender (83.3%), cupressus gold crest (77.3%), santa barbara rosemary (75.0%), lemon grass (73.3%), blue spires rosemary (65.0%). Results also showed that two species plants were effective at repelling Musca domestica. Santa barbara rosemary and lemon grass had a repellent rate at 30 min of 71.7 and 56.7%, respectively. However, we found that for Culex quinquefasciatus none of the natural plants tested could reach a standard repellent rate of 50%. Based on these results, we conclude that some plants have potential to repel household pests, and they could be included as part of a residential environmental management system. The public can use these environmentally safe and effective repellent plants as an alternative method for household pest control.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
(original language: Chinese)
Database assignments for author(s): Err-Lieh Hsu

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
control - general

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Culex quinquefasciatus		Taiwan
	Musca domestica		Taiwan
	Aedes aegypti		Taiwan