VALERIAN FAMILY 235 



1. S. canadensis L. COMMON ELDER. Stems 5-10 ft. high, with 

 a thin cylinder of wood surrounding abundant white pith. Leaflets 

 5-11, oblong, taper-pointed, smooth. Cymes flat and often very 

 large. Fruit purplish-black, insipid or almost nauseous, but some- 

 what used in cookery. 



2. S. racemosa L. RED-BERRIED ELDER. More woody, with 

 brown pith. Leaflets fewer, downy beneath, especially when young. 

 Cymes panicled and somewhat pyramidal. Fruit scarlet. 



97. VALERIANACE-ffi. VALERIAN FAMILY 



Herbs, rarely shrubs. Leaves opposite, without stipules. 

 Flowers epigynous, small, usually not actinomorphic, in fork- 

 ing cymes. Corolla funnel-shaped, the base often with a sac 

 or spur. Stamens 1-3 or 5, inserted at the base of the corolla 

 tube ; filaments slender, anthers versatile. Ovary cells 3; two 

 of them not ovule-bearing, the third with a single ovule hang- 

 ing from the top ; style thread-like ; stigma blunt or 2-3-lobed. 

 Fruit small, not splitting open. 



I. VALERIANA L. 



Perennial, rarely annual, herbs. Basal leaves crowded ; stem 

 leaves opposite or whorled, entire or pinnately cut. Flowers 

 in corymbed, headed, or panicled cymes. Limb of the calyx 

 consisting of several plumy bristles. Lobes of the corolla 5 

 or rarely 3-4, unequal. Stamens 3. Stigma knobbed. Fruit 

 flattened, ribbed, 1-celled, 1-seeded. 



1. V. edulis Nutt. An upright, straight-stemmed plant, 1-4 ft. 

 high. Leaves all thickish and closely fringed with short hairs ; root 

 leaves linear-spatulate or lanceolate-spatulate, entire ; stem leaves 

 pinnately parted, the 3-7 divisions long and narrow. Flowers almost 

 dioecious in a long, interrupted panicle. Corolla whitish. Root long 

 and stout, eaten by Indians. Low ground and wet prairies, especially 

 N.W. 



2. V. officinalis L. GARDEN VALERIAN. Plant smooth or hairy 

 below, strong smelling. Rootstock short. Leaves all pinnate ; basal 

 leaves long-petioled, soon withering; stem leaves 2-5 in. long, sessile, 

 the leaflets lanceolate, entire or serrate. Corolla pale pink. Root- 

 stocks strong-scented, used in medicine. Cultivated from Europe. 



