228 VALERIANACE.E. (VALERIAN FAMILY.) 



lanceolate pungent leaves in whorls of 4 - 6, and small subsessile blue or pink- 

 ish flowers surrounded by a gamophyllous involucre. (Named for Dr. William 

 Sherard, patron of Dillenius.) 



S. ARVENSIS, L. The only species ; sparingly naturalized from Eu. 



ORDER 53. VALERIANACE^J. (VALERIAN FAMILY.) 



Herbs, with opposite leaves and no stipules; the calyx-tube coherent with 

 the ovary, which has one fertile l-ovuled cell and two abortive or empty ones ; 

 the stamens distinct, l-3,feicer than the lobes of the corolla, and inserted 

 on its tube. Corolla tubular > funnel-form, often irregular, mostly 5- 

 lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud. Style slender; stigmas 1-3. 

 Fruit indehiscent, 1 -celled (the two empty cells of the ovary disappear- 

 ing), or 3-celled, two of them empty, the other 1-seeded. Seed suspended, 

 anatropous, with a large embryo and no albumen. Flowers in panicled 

 or clustered cymes. (Roots often odorous and antispasmodic.) 



1. VALERIAN A, Tourn. VALERIAN. 



Limb of the calyx of several plumose bristles (like a pappus) which are rolled 

 up inward in flower, but unroll and spread as the seed-like 1-celled fruit ma- 

 tures. Corolla commonly gibbous near the base, the 5-lobed limb nearly regu- 

 lar. Stamens 3. Perennial herbs, with thickened strong-scented roots, and 

 simple or pinnate leaves. Flowers in many species imperfectly dioecious or di- 

 morphous. (A mediaeval Latin name of uncertain origin.) 



* Root spindle-shaped, large and deep (6-12' long) ; leaves thickish. 



1. V. edulis, Xutt. Smooth, or minutely downy when very young; stem 

 straight (1 -4 high), few-leaved ; leaves commonly minutely and densely cili- 

 ate, those of the root spatulate and lanceolate, of the stem pinnately parted into 

 3-7 long and narrow divisions ; flowers in a long and narrow interrupted pani- 

 cle, nearly dioacious; corolla whitish, obconical (2" long). Wet plains and 

 prairies, Ohio and Ont. to Iowa, Minn., and westward. June. 



* * Root fibrous ; leaves thin. (Stems 1 -3 high.) 



2. V. sylvatica, Banks. Smooth or minutely pubescent ; root-leaves 

 ovate or oblong, entire, rarely with 2 small lobes; stem leaves pinnate, with 3- 

 1 1 oblong-ovate or lanceolate nearly entire leaflets ; cyme at first close, many- 

 flowered ; corolla inversely conical (3" long, rose-color or white). Wet ground, 

 Newf. to southern N. Y., N. Mich., westward and northward. June. 



3. V. paucifl6ra, Michx. Smooth, slender, snrculose ; root-leaves orate, 

 heart-shaped, toothed, pointed, sometimes with 2 small lateral divisions ; stem- 

 leaves pinnate, with 3-7 ovate toothed leaflets ; branches of the panicled cyme 

 few-flowered ; tube of the (pale pink) corolla long and slender (' long). Woods 

 and alluvial banks, Penn. to S. 111., Mo., and Tenn. June. 



2. VALE III AWE LL A, Tourn. CORN SALAD. LAMB-LETTUCE. 



Limb of the calyx obsolete or merely toothed. Corolla funnel-form, equally 

 or unequally 5-lobed. Stamens 3, rarely 2. Fruit 3-celled, two of the cells 

 empty and sometimes confluent into one, the other 1-seeded. Annuals and 



