CLASS III. ORDER i.] VALERIAN!. 35 



common showy plant in flower gardens, flourishing in almost any soil 

 or situation. 



** Flowers dioecious. 



2. V. dioi'ca, Linn. (Fig. 47.) small Marsh Valerian. Corolla gib- 

 bous at the base ; root-leaves simple ovate petiolated, those of the 

 stem lyrato-pinnatifid. 



English Botany, t. 628. English Flora, vol. i. p. 43. Lindley, Sy- 

 nopsis, p. 138. Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 23. 



Plant from six to eighteen inches high. Root leaves mostly entire, 

 with fleshy footstalks ; those of the stem have from two to six pairs of 

 more or less toothed opposite leaflets, terminated by a larger one which 

 is three-cleft, the upper pair reduced to bractea. Flowers dicecious, 

 rose-coloured, becoming paler in maturity, densely crowded. Those 

 plants bearing stamens only are always much smaller and weaker than 

 the fertile plants. Stamens and pistils are sometimes present, but 

 rarely perfect in the same individual. 



Habitat. Bogs and marshy meadows, frequent 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



*** Flowers with three stamens, perfect. 



3. V. officina'lis, Linn. (Fig. 48.) Corolla gibbous at the base; 

 leaves opposite, all pinnated ; leaflets lanceolate, serrated. 



English Botany, t. 698. English Flora, vol. i. p. 43. Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p. 138. Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 23. 



Root tuberous* with long fibres. Stem two to four feet high, hol- 

 low, furrowed, erect, smooth, sometimes hairy below. Leaves pinnate 

 opposite, clasping the stem, hairy at the base, footstalks of the lower 

 ones elongated. Lea/lets four to six p?irs, opposite or alternate, and a 

 terminal one, mostly lanceolate, strongly veined, and coarsely serrated, 

 nearly uniform, sessile, dark green above, paler and hairy beneath 

 Flowers small, white or light rose-coloured, odorous, in large dense- 

 branched corymbs. Bracteas lanceolate connate, waved, ciliated at 

 the base. Corolla tubular, slightly gibbous at the base, divided at 

 the margin into five obtuse nearly equal spreading segments. Sta- 

 mens longer than the corolla. Style short. Stigma bifid. Capsule 

 oblongo-ovate, emarginate at the base, compressed, three- ribbed on one 

 side, one on the other, containing a solitary ovate pendulous seed. 



Habitat. Banks by the sides of moist woods and rivers, plentiful. 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



The roots of this plant are tonic, aromatic, antispasmodic, and vermi- 

 fugal, and have been long exhibited as a remedy in nervous affections. 

 The peculiar odour of these roots is not generally agreeable to Euro- 

 peans, but those of several species are used in the eastern nations 

 to aromatise their baths, and are highly esteemed as perfumes. Cats 



