VALERIAN 19 



fries, Kirkcudbright, Ayr; in E. Lowlands in Roxburgh, Berwick, 

 Haddington, Edinburgh, Linlithgow, Fife, Stirling, and W. Suther- 

 land; and up to 2000 ft. in Northumberland. It is absent from 

 Ireland. 



Valerian grows in moist places such as wet meadows, marshes, and 

 bogs. There it is as common as Water Dropwort, Marsh Marigold, 

 Joint Rush, Marsh Arrowgrass, Common Spike Rush, and many other 

 paludal types of vegetation. Tall and graceful, Valerian has simple 

 stems with egg-shaped, stalked, radical leaves, spoon -shaped, and 



VALERIAN (Valeriana dioica, L.) 



undivided. The stem -leaves are pinnatifid, or with lobes divided 

 nearly to the base, few, obtusely and coarsely toothed. The stem is 

 square in section. 



As the second Latin name suggests, the plants have stamens and 

 pistils on different flowers. The first as well as the second has an 

 inconspicuous calyx, with a prominent rim round the top of the ovary 

 in the female. The flowers are tetramorphic. The corolla is mono- 

 petalous, with small tube, and has either rudimentary or no anthers, 

 or the corolla may be large or smaller, with no pistil or a very rudi- 

 mentary one. There are 3 stamens, which protrude from the flesh- 

 coloured petals. The flowers are panicled. The fruit is small, ribbed, 

 and smooth. 



