286 



VALERIANACEAE. 



VOL. III. 



5. Valeriana officinalis L. Common, 



Garden or Great Wild Valerian. 



Vandal-root. Fig. 3999. 



Valeriana officinalis L. Sp. PI. 31. 1753. 



Erect, 2-5 high, more or less pubes- 

 cent, especially at the nodes. Leaves all 

 pinnately parted into 7-25 thin reticulate- 

 veined lanceolate acute or acuminate seg- 

 ments, sharply dentate, or those of the 

 upper leaves entire, usually with some 

 scattered hairs beneath; flowers pink or 

 nearly white, about 2" long; inflorescence 

 of several rather compact corymbed cymes ; 

 bracts linear-lanceolate, rather large ; fruit 

 glabrous, ovate, about \\" long. 



Escaped from gardens to roadsides in New 

 York, Ohio and New Jersey. Native of Eu- 

 rope and Asia. Old names, cats'-valerian, 

 setwell, cut-heal, all-heal. Garden-, summer- 

 or hardy-heliotrope. St. George's-herb. June- 

 Aug. 



2. VALERIANELLA [Tourn.] Mill. Card. Diet. Abr. Ed. 4. 1754. 

 Annual dichotomously branched herbs, the basal leaves tufted, entire, those of the stem 

 sessile, often dentate, the flowers in terminal, compact or capitate, in our species corymbed 

 or panicled cymes. Corolla small, white, blue, or pink, nearly* regular. Calyx-limb short 

 or obsolete in flower, in fruit various, not divided into filiform plumose segments, often none. 

 Corolla-tube narrowed at the base, the limb spreading, 5-lobed. Stamens 3; style minutely 

 3-lobed at the summit. Fruit 3-celled, 2 of the cells empty, and in our species about as large 

 as the fertile one. [Name a diminutive of Valerian.] 



About 50 species, natives of the northern hemisphere, most abundant in the Mediterranean 

 region. Besides the following, 8 others occur in the western parts of North America. Type species : 

 Valeriana Locusta L. 

 Corolla funnelform, the short tube not longer than the limb or about equalling it. 



Fruit flattened, twice as broad as thick ; corolla blue. i. V. Locusta. 



Fruit triangular-pyramidal ; corolla white. 2. V . chenopodifolia. 



Fruit oblong-tetragonal or ovoid-tetragonal, grooved. 



Groove of the fruit broad and shallow. 3. V. radiata. 



Groove of the fruit narrow. 4. V. stenocarpa. 



Fruit globose or saucer-shaped. 5. V. Woodsiana. 



Corolla salverform, purplish, the slender tube much longer than the limb. 6. V. longiflora. 



i. Valerianella Locusta (L.) Bettke. European Corn Salad. Fig. 4000. 



Valeriana Locusta and var. olitoria L. Sp. PI. 



33- 1753- 

 Valerianella olitoria Poll. Hist. PI. Palat. I : 



30. 1776. 

 Valerianella Locusta Bettke. Anim. Val. 10. 



1826. 



Glabrous, or pubescent at the nodes, 6'- 

 12' high, usually branched from the base 

 and repeatedly forked. Basal leaves spatu- 

 late or oblanceolate, rounded and obtuse 

 at the apex, ii'-2' long, 3"-5" wide, entire; 

 upper stem leaves oblong-lanceolate, usu- 

 ally dentate ; peduncles short ; cymes 3"-6" 

 broad, almost capitate ; bracts linear or 

 linear-oblong ; corolla blue, about i" long ; 

 fruit flattened, rounded on the edges, i" 

 long, glabrous, twice as broad as thick, 

 depressed-orbicular in outline, the two 

 empty cavities smaller than the fertile one, 

 which has a corky mass at its back. 



In fields and waste places, Maine to On- 

 tario, Idaho, Arkansas, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 

 vania, Virginia and Louisiana. Naturalized 

 from Europe. The plant is cultivated and the leaves used for salad under the name of fetticus. 

 White pot-herb, lamb s-lettuce, milk-grass. April-July. 



