24-8 Lxxi. valerianej: (hiern). 



Oeder lxxi. VALERIANEiE. (By W. P. Hiem.) 



Flowers hermaphrodite or occasionally unisexual. Calyx-tube ad- 

 nate to the ovary ; limb persistent and membranous or coriaceous or 

 deciduous and resembling feathery pappus, equal or unequal. Corolla 

 gamopetalous, tubular, inserted on an epigynous disk, regular or 

 irregular, sometimes calcarate at the base ; lobes 3-5, usually 5, ob- 

 tuse, imbricated (cochlear) in aestivation. Stamens 1-4, usually 3-4, 

 the posterior one and often one of the lateral ones wanting, inserted 

 on the tube of the corolla, alternating with its lobes ; filaments sepa- 

 rate, incurved in bud, exserted in flower. Anthers introrse, 2-celled, 

 incumbent, longitudinally dehiscing. Ovary inferior, 3-celled ; two 

 cells empty and often smaller chan the third fertile one ; ovule soli- 

 tary, pendulous from the apex of the cell, anatropous ; style simple, 

 filiform ; stigmas 2-3, free or connate. Fruit indehiscent, dry, 

 l-3-cell6d, 1- seeded ; seed pendulous, exalbuminous ; embryo straight, 

 radicle superior, short, cotyledons oblong, rather thick.-^Herbs, 

 usually annual. Leaves opposite, entire dentate or pinnatifid, exsti- 

 pulate, radical ones often rosulate. Flowers bracteate, but little tend- 

 ing to be capitate. 



An Order of moderate size, w'dely scattered and chiefly occurring in temperate 

 climates. 



L VALERIANELLA, Haller ; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. PI. ii. 



p. 156. 



Calyx-limb persistent, in the flowering stage not involute, often 

 accrescent, dentate or entire, membranous or coriaceous, sometimes 

 obsolete. Corolla funnel-shaped, slender, usually with ashort tube and 

 a slight gibbosity at the base ; limb subequal, 5-lobed. Stamens 3, 

 inserted about the middle of the corolla-tube. Stigma 3-fid. — Annuals, 

 dichotomously divided. Leaves entire or the upper ones often toothed 

 or incise-pinnatifid. Flowers sessile, solitary, at the apex of the 

 branches crowded in subfastigiate or subglobose bracteate cymes. 



A genus of several species, chiefly occurring in cultivated ground, with a wide 

 distribution especially over the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. 



1. V. dentata, PollicJi, Hist PL i. p. 30 (177G) Erect or 

 spreading, subsimple, or dichotomously and divaricately branched, 

 1^7 in. high. Leaves spathulate- oblong, obtuse, sessile, quite entire 

 or the uppermost dentate at the base, often somewhat ciliate at the base, 

 otherwise glabrous, i— li in. long by i^\ | in. wide, the uppermost 

 jnes bractiform, linear, smaller. Fruit ovoid, hispid or sometimes at 

 length glabrous ; barren cells not contiguous, appearing as linear ribs 

 on the face of the fruit. Calyx-limb obscure, oblique, obtuse, entire 

 (in Tropical African specimens), ovate, elliptical. — DC. Prodr. iv. p. 

 627.^F. afc^/ssmica, Fresen. in Mus. Senckenb. ii. p. 116 (1837); V. 

 mirrocarpa, Lois. ; Krok, Monogr. Valerian., i. p. 36, t. i. f. 3 (1864), 



