I 



206 FLORA HOMCEOPATHICA. 



plant. Dioscorides, Galen, Pliny, and the Arabian physicians 

 employed it as emmenagogue and diuretic- Sibthorp (Flor. 

 Graze?) states that the ancient Oo^ is not the officinal Valerian, 

 but a species, which he calls Valeriana Dioscoridis. Adams, 

 however (App. to Dunbar's Greek Lexicon), says : u After some 

 controversy, it seems to be now generally agreed that <&ou is 

 the Valeriana officinalis, or Great Wild Valerian. 5 ' 



Fabius Columna first brought this plant into notice as a 

 specific for epilepsy, he having cured himself of this disease by 

 its use in 1592 ; and it was employed with varying success up 

 to the present time as an antispasmodic and nervous excitant. 

 In the treatment of epilepsy it had its strong advocates and 

 strong opponents. Dr. Cullen (Mat Med., vol. ii. p. 372) 

 accounts for this " from the disease depending upon different 

 causes," and no doubt from the symptoms not according 

 with the pathogenetic effects of the drug, a reason quite suf- 

 ficient to account for the different statements. 



At the present time it is chiefly used as an ingredient in the 

 numerous substances prescribed for hypochondriasis, hysteria, 

 and chorea — rarely uncombined. 



Description. — Valerian is a perennial plant, flowering from 

 June to August. The root is composed of several long, slender 

 fibres, of a dusky brown colour, approaching to olive, that issue 

 from one head. The stem is from two to four feet in height, 

 erect, hollow, smooth, and branched. The leaves are opposite, 

 of a deep glossy green, in pairs, and hairy underneath. Stalked 

 leaflets coarsely serrated, those of the radical leaves broadest, 

 approaching to ovate. The flowers are small, of a reddish-white 

 (roseate) colour, in large, dense, corymbiform panicles at the 

 extremities of the stem and branches, and contain both stamens 

 and pistil, by which it may be distinguished from the Val. 

 dioica. The calyx is a slight border, subsequently expanding 

 into a crown for the seed. The corolla is tubular, with a pro- 

 tuberance for the base, and divided at the limb into five obtuse, 

 somewhat unequal, segments. The stamens are three, awl- 



