Valeriana. VALERIANACE^. 47 



1. VALERIANA. Tourn. ; Linn. (excl. spec); Neck. clem. 1. p. 122 ; 

 DC. mem. Valer., S^'prodr. 4. p. 632. 



Limb of the calyx involute after flowering, at length evolute, forming a 

 plumose pappus of numerous setae, deciduous. Corolla obconical, or with a 

 cyUndraceous tube, sometimes gibbous, but not spurred at the base; the 

 limb obtusely 5- (rarely 3-4-) cleft, regular. Stamens 3. Fruit 1 -celled 

 when mature (with no vestiges of the abortive cells), 1-seeded. Perennial 

 herbs or sometimes shrubby plants, with divided or undivided leaves. Flow- 

 ers cymose, the dichotomal flowers sessile ; the cymules often paniculate or 

 glomerate. Bracts usually opposite. Corolla white, sometimes bluish or 

 rose-color. 



Our species are all tme Valerians (§ Phu, DC), and are perennial herbs. 

 * Stems climbing or twining. 



1. V. scandens (Linn.): herbaceous, glabrous, climbing and twining; 

 leaves on slender petioles, ternately divided ; the divisions ovate or oblong- 

 ovate, entire, the terminal one largest, mostly acuminate ; flowers (srnall) in 

 dichotomous difluse or divaricate paniculate cymes, axillary and terminating 

 the branches ; corolla very short ; fruit glabrous or slightly hairy, 3-nerved 

 on one side, 1-nerved on the other. — Linn. spec. {ed. 2) 1. p. 47; Willd. 

 spec. 1. p. 180 ; DC. ! prodr. 4. p. 634. 



Florida, Baldwin ! Dr. Leavenworth ! — Stem slender, branching, climb- 

 ing to the height of 4 or 5 feet. Leaves membranaceous. 



* * Stem erect : root or rhizoma somewhat creeping, fibrillose. 



2. V. sylvatica (Herb. Banks.): glabrous; stem slightly striate, simple ; 

 radical leaves ovate or oblong-spatulate, entire, or rarely with 2 small auri- 

 culate lobes, on slender petioles ; cauHne ones pinnately divided ; the divi- 

 sions lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, entire or obscurely serrate, the terminal 

 one larger; flowers all perfect and similar, numerous, in a compact cyme; 

 lobes of the stigma 2-3, minute ; fruit ovoid, compressed, glabrous — ■ 

 Richards.! in appx. Frankl. journ. ed. 2. p. 2; Hook. ! fl. Bor.-Am. 1. 

 p. 291. V. dloica, Pursh, fl. 2. p. 727. 



/?. uliginosa : leaves ciliate ; the surface also (as well as the stem) often 

 minutely pubescent ; the terminal division frequently toothed. — V. sylvati- 

 ca? Beck! hot. p. 164. 



Newfoundland, Banks ! On Clear-water R,iver, in Subarctic America, 

 Richardson ! Prairies of the Rocky Mountains, (in about lat. 52° ?) Drum- 

 mond! /3. In swamps, Fairhaven, Vermont, Dr. Bobbins! Beck! Prof. 

 Tully! Wayne County, New York, Dr. Sartivell ! Near Pontiac, Michi- 

 gan, Mr. George P. Williams ! June-July. — Root having the odor of V., 

 officinahs. Plant 10-24 inches high. Divisions of the cauline leaves 5-11,. 

 varying from oblong-ovate to linear-lanceolate, mostly acute. Corolla short,, 

 obconical, gibbous at ihe base, rose-color. — The flowers of the northern plant 

 (var. a.) are no larger than those of V. dioica of Europe (to which Hooker 

 thinks the species is probably too nearly allied) ; but the plant from the 

 United States, besides the diflerences already indicated, has rather larger 

 flowers : the cyme, at first glomerate, is at length open and somewhat ])an- 

 iculate. The fruit of the northern plant is unknown to us ; in that of the 

 United States it is glabrous, narrowly oblong-ovate, 3-nerved on one side, 

 and 1-nerved on the other. The leaves in tlie specimens communicated by- 

 Mr. Williams are pubescent throughout. 



