VALERIANE.3i. II. NARDOSTACHYS. HI. DUFRESNIA. IV. VALERIANELLA. 



667 



sessile, broadest at the base. Stems simple. Flowers disposed 

 in fascicled corymbs. Corollas purple. 



1 N. JATAMA'NSI (D. C. coll. mem. vii. t. 1.) stem villous; 

 leaves downy : radical ones lanceolate-long : cauline leaves sub- 

 lanceolate ; fascicles of flowers opposite, pedunculate, and ter- 

 minal. 1. F. Native of Nipaul, on the Himalaya mountains 

 and Gosaingsthan ; in Mandon and Chitor provinces ; in the pro- 

 vinces of Delhi, Bengal, and Decan. Valeriana Jatamansi, 

 Jones in asiat. res. 2. p. 405. and 4. p. 109. Roxb. in asiat. res. 

 p. 451. D. Don, in Lamb, cinch, p. 180. with a figure. Vale- 

 riana spica, Vahl, enum. 2. p. 13. Patrinia Jatamansi, D. Don, 

 prod. fl. nep. p. 159. Nardus Garc. ab. hort. arom. p. 133. 

 with a figure of the root. Nardus I'ndica. J. Bauh. hist. 3. p. 202. 

 Nardostachyon or Spica Nardi or Nardus Ganghus or Nardus 

 Syrlaca of the ancients, and Jatamangsi of the natives of India. 

 It had long been a desideratum among the moderns to know to 

 what order and genus the plant belonged, which produced the 

 spikenard of the ancients. We are indebted to that learned 

 orientalist, the late Sir William Jones, for having first pointed it 

 out satisfactorily, although he confounded it with another species 

 totally distinct, and from which he has taken his botanical de- 

 scription and figure. This mistake arose from his not having 

 received perfect specimens himself; but trusting wholly to the 

 account and drawing given him by a friend, who was entirely 

 unversed in botany, and who therefore could not be supposed to 

 distinguish accurately two plants of the same genus. The Jata- 

 mansi or Jatamangsi belongs to the genus Nardostachys, and 

 resembles in several respects the Celtic Nard, Valeriana Celtica. 

 The roots are simple, perpendicular, from 4 to 6 inches long, and 

 the upper half is very thickly covered with the remains of the 

 past leaves, resembling coarse hairs, and the smell resembles 

 those of Valeriana officinalis. This smell, which to many would 

 not perhaps prove grateful, has led some to doubt its being the 

 spikenard of the ancients. Dr. Francis Hamilton, in his account 

 of Nipaul, has expressed some doubts on the subject, but he 

 says, " As there can be no disputing about taste, I cannot take 

 upon myself to say how far the encomiums bestowed on the 

 spikenard are applicable to this valerian, and the native women 

 no doubt consider the smell very agreeable, because most of such 

 as can afford it use oil impregnated with this root for perfuming 

 their haic All I can say is, that if this root is the spikenard of 

 the Roman ladies, their lovers must have had a very different 

 taste from the youth of modern Europe. Notwithstanding the 

 objections that might be raised against the Jatamansi, on the 

 ground -that the perfume produced by its roots would not prove 

 perhaps so grateful to our modern ladies, yet to the ladies of 

 ancient Rome it might have been highly grateful, as it is to those 

 of Nipaul at the present day. The late Sir VVilliam Jones, in 

 two learned dissertations published in the second and fourth 

 volumes of the Transactions of the Asiatic Society, has, indeed, 

 so fully demonstrated by so many proofs that the Nardostachys 

 is identical with the spikenard of the ancients, and this opinion 

 is supported by so many concurring circumstances, that there 

 can, I think, be no doubt now left on the subject. The Vale- 

 riana Hardwickii, with which Sir W. Jones confounded it, has 

 short fleshy roots, sending out numerous cylindrical fibres, the 

 radical leaves cordate, and those of the stem pinnate and ternate. 

 The flowers panicled, and in other respects it differs widely." 



Jatamansi or Spikenard. PI. -j foot. 



2 N. GRANDIFLORA (D. C. coll. mem. vii. t. 2.) stem quite 

 glabrous ; leaves oblong, glabrous : cauline ones ovate or cor- 

 date ; heads of flowers solitary, terminal. }/ . F. Native of 

 Nipaul, at Katnaon. Fedia grandiflora, Wall. mss. Bracteas 

 3-nerved, membranous, oval, longer than the capsule. Capsule 

 downy ; lobes of calyx evidently denticulated. 



Great-florrered Spikenard. PL ^ foot. 



Cult. See Triploslegia, p. 680. for culture and propagation. 



III. DUFRE'SNIA (named after Peter Dufresne, M.D., 

 author of Histoire Naturelle et Medicale de La Famille des 

 Valerianees, 4to, Montpelier, 1811.). D. C. coll. mem. vii. t. 3. 

 prod. 4. p. 624. 



LIN. SYST. Tetrdndria, Monogynia. Limb of calyx 3-parted: 

 lobes ovate, acute, rather unequal, permanent, reticulated, and 

 serrated. Corolla with an obconical tube, and a 5-lobed limb : 

 lobes roundish. Stamens 3. Style unknown. Fruit membra- 

 nous, indehiscent, very villous outside, crowned by the lobes of 

 the calyx, 3-celled inside, one of the cells fertile and flattened, and 

 the other 2 cylindrical and sterile. A small glabrous herb. Stem 

 suffruticose at the base, nearly simple. Leaves opposite, oblong, 

 obtuse, quite entire. Cymes crowded, subcapitate. Bracteas 

 oblong, spreading, serrated. Flowers small, rose-coloured in 

 the dry state, and probably monoecious from abortion. 



1 D. ORIENTA'LIS (D. C. coll. mem. vii. t. 3.) I/ ? F. Native 

 of the Levant, between Mosul and Bagdad, where it was col- 

 lected by Olivier and Bruguiere. 



Oriental Duffesnia. PI. ^ foot. 



Cult. This plant should be grown in a pot in a mixture of 

 peat, loam, and sand ; and placed among other alpine plants ; it 

 can only be increased by seeds. 



IV. VALERIANE'LLA (a dim. of Valeriana, which see). 

 Mcench. meth. p. 486. D. C. fl. fr. 4. p. 240. coll. mem. vii. t. 

 3. Dufr. val. p. 56. Link, enum. 1. p. 63. Betck. anim. 4to, 

 Rost. 1826. D. C. prod. 4. p. 625. Valerianella species, Tourn. 

 Valeriana locusta, Lin. F&dia species, Gaertn. Vahl. Stev. 

 Bieb. Rchb. but not of Adans. nor Mcench. Polipremum, Adans. 

 fam. 2. p. 152. but not of Lin. Odontocarpa, Neck. elem. 1. 

 p. 123. 



LIN. SYST. Tri6ndria, Monogynia. Limb of calyx toothed, 

 permanent. Corolla spurless, regular, 5-lobed. Stamens 3. 

 Stigma nearly undivided or trifid. Fruit 3-celled, rather mem- 

 branous, indehiscent, crowned by the toothed or accrete limb of 

 the calyx. Annual herbs. Stems dichotomous at the tops. 

 Leaves oblong or linear, undivided, or toothed at the base, or 

 the superior ones are pinnatifid. Flowers solitary in the forks, 

 or in fascicled corymbs, bracteate, small, white, rarely rose- 

 coloured. 



1. Locusta (from locusta, a locust; so named from some 

 semblance in the branches). D. C. prod. 4. p. 624. Mature 

 fruit 2 or 3-celled; one of the cells alone fertile, and gibbous on 

 the back ; the two sterile ones equal or broader than the fertile one, 

 sometimes distinct, and sometimes coadunate,from the dissepiment 

 having vanished. 



* Mature fruit 2-celled. 



1 V. OLITO'RIA (Mcench. meth. p. 493.) fruit globose, com- 

 pressed, inflated, glabrous, oblique, 2-lobed ; limb of calyx 

 almost wanting, or with 1-3 very short teeth; fruit having the 

 2 sterile cells combined, from the dissepiment being incom- 

 plete ; flowers subcapitate ; bracteas spreading, oblong-linear, 

 ciliately-serrated ; leaves linear-tongue-shaped, almost entire, 

 blunt ; angles of stem scabrous. Q. H. Native of Europe, 

 in corn-fields and light cultivated grounds ; plentiful in Britain ; 

 and is cultivated in gardens as a salad. D. C. fl. fr. no. 3330. 

 coll. mem. t. 3. f. 2. Dufr. val. 56. t. 3. f. 8. Valeriana 

 locusta, Willd. spec. 1. p. 182. Fedia olitoria, Vahl, enum. 2. 

 p. 19. but not of Gsertn, Fedia locusta, Rchb. pi. cr. 1. t. 60. 

 Fedia striata, Stev. mem. mosc. 2. p. 173. Valeriana olitoria, 

 Willd. spec. 1. p. 182. Lactuca agnina, Ger. emac. t. 310. f. 

 1-2. Riv. irr. t. 6. Valeriana locusta, Lin. spec. p. 47. a. 

 Smith, eng. bot. 12. t. 811. Curt. lond. fasc. 5. t. 4. Mart. 

 4 a 2 



