Vol. III.] 



VALERIAN FAMILY. 



245 





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4. Valeriana officinalis L,. 

 Garden or Great Wild Valerian. 

 Vandal-root. (Fig. 3474.) 



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 segments, sharply dentate, 

 or those of the upper leaves entire, usu- 

 ally 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 I'/i" long. 



Escaped from sjardens to roadsides in 

 New York and New Jersey. Native of Eu- 

 rope and .\sia. Old names Cats' Valerian, 

 Setwell, Cut-heal, All-heal. June-Aug. 



2. VALERIANELLA Poll. Hist. PI. Palat. i: 29. 1776. 



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. 

 CoroUa-tulje 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. 

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



Fruit flattened, twice as broad as thick. i. I'. Locusta. 



Fruit triangvilar-pyraniidal. 2. V. chenopodifolia. 



Fruit oblong-tetragonal or ovoid-tett^hgonal, grooved. 



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



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



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



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



I. Valerianella Locusta (L.) Bettke. 



European Corn Salad. (Fig. 3475.) 



Valeriatia Locusta and var. oliioria \^. 



Sp. PI. 33. 1753. 

 Valerianella olitoria Poll. Hist. PI. Palat. 



1: 30. 1776. 

 Valerianella Locusta Bettke. Anim. Val. 

 10. 1S26. 



Glabrous, or pubescent at the 

 nodes, 6'-i2' high, usually branched 

 from the base and repeatedly forked. 

 Basal leaves spatulate or oblanceolate, 

 rounded and obtuse at the apex, iX'- 

 2' long, s"-5" wide, entire; upper 

 stem leaves oblong-lanceolate, usually 

 dentate; peduncles short; cymes 3"- 

 6" broad, almost capitate; bracts lin- 

 ear or linear-oblong; corolla blue, 

 about i" long; fruit flattened, rounded 

 on the edges, 1" 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 waste places, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to Virginia and Louisiana. Naturalized 



from Europe. The leaves are cultivated and used for salad under the name of Fetticus. Called 



also White Pot-Herb, Lamb's Lettuce, Milk Grass. April-July. 



dug . '2. 



