VALERIA^E^— VALERIAN TRIBE 1]:^ 



name of Quinsey-wort or Qui nancy-wort, refers to its ancient uses in disorders 

 of the throat. 



3. Field Woodruff (A. aninsis). — Leaves from 6 to 10 in a whorl, 

 very slender, lanceolate, and blunt ; flowers in a terminal cluster, surrounded 

 by long bracts, fringed with delicate hairs ; stem erect, square. This plant 

 was probably never truly wild in this country, though Gerarde says that in 

 his time it grew in "many places of Essex and divers other parts, in sandie 

 ground." It still occurs occasionally in corn-fields, but no doubt introduced 

 with the farmer's seeds. The flowers are bright blue, expanding in June ; 

 the fruit large and smooth. 



4. Sherardia, or Field Madder (Sherdrdia). 



Blue Sherardia (»S'. arvdnsis). — Leaves about 6 in a whorl, lanceolate, 

 acute, their margins rough ; flowers in small umbels, seated amid the terminal 

 leaves ; stems branching and spreading ; root annual. Many persons, while 

 wandering in the country, pass by this small plant ; but the lover of wild 

 flowers regards with interest its pretty little cluster of pale lilac blossoms ; 

 and the botanist looks with favour on a plant destined to commemorate one 

 of our greatest botanical collectors. The valuable Herbarium of James 

 Sherard is still preserved at Oxford ; while the noble garden of Sherard, at 

 Eltham, in Kent, has been immortalized by having given rise to the " Hortus 

 Elthamensis " of Dillenius. The plant is so small, that one would fain have 

 commemorated a good botanist by a finer flower ; but that is unimportant, 

 seeing that the work of Dillenius is an enduring monument to his fame. 

 The plant abounds in the ridges of corn-fields, and on dry banks, especially 

 where the soil is of gravel, flowering from April to October. 



Order XLIV. VALERIANEiE— VALERIAN TRIBE. 



Calyx superior, finally becoming a border or pappus to the fruit ; corolla 

 tubular, 3 — 6-lobed, sometimes irregular and spurred at the base; stamens 

 from 1 to 5, inserted into the tube of the corolla ; ovary with from 1 to 3 

 cells ; fruit dry, crowned with the calyx, not bursting, 1-seeded, two of the 

 cells being empty. This order consists of herbaceous plants with opposite 

 leaves, without stipules, having, in most cases, a powerful odour, and a bitter 

 and tonic principle. Many plants of other countries contained in this order 

 possess important properties. The true Spikenard of the ancients is a plant 

 of this family. They are mostly natives of temperate climates, often growing 

 on mountains. Though the species are rare in Africa and North America, 

 they abound in South America, the north of India, and Europe. 



1. Spur Valerian (CentrdntJms). —-Corolla 5-cleft, spurred at the base , 

 stamen 1 ; fruit crowned with a feathery pappus. Named from keniron, a 

 spur, and anfJios, a flower. 



2. Valerian (ra/e/-i(^«a).— Corolla 5-cleft, bulged at the base ; stamens 3 ; 

 fruit crowned with a pappus. Name from the Latin valere, to heal, from its 

 medicinal properties. 



3. Corn-salad (FMia).— Corolla 5-cleft, bulged at the base ; stamens 

 2 — 3 ; fruit crowned with the calyx. Name of uncertain origin. 



IL — 15 



