218 VALERIAN FAMILY. 



IK. VALERIANACE^, VALERIAN FAMILY. 



Herbs, with o})posite leaves, no stipules, calyx coherent with 

 the ovary, which has only one fertile, one-ovuled cell but two 

 abortive or empty ones, and stamens always fewer than the 

 lobes of the tubular or funnel-form corolla (1-3, distinct), and 

 inserted on its tube. Style slender ; stigmas 1-3. Fruit small 

 and dr}^, indehiscent; the single hanging seed with a large 

 embryo and no albumen. Flowers small, in clusters or cymes. 



• Lobes of the calyx many and slender, but hardly seen when in flower, being rolled 

 up inwards around the base of the corolla ; in fruit they unroll and appear as 

 long plumose bristles, resembling a pappus, like thistle-down. 



1. VALERIANA. Corolla with narrow or funnel-form tube usually gibbous at the base 

 on one side, but not spurred, its 5 spreading lobes almost equal. Stamens 3. Akene 

 1-ceUed, the minute empty cells early disappearing. Root strong-.scented. 



« » Lobes of the calyx of a few short teeth or mostly hardly any. 



1. VALERIANELLA. Corolla funnel-form, with 5 equal or rather unequal spreading 

 lobes. Stamens mostly 8. Akene-like fruit with one fertile and two empty cells, or 

 the latter confluent into one. 



1. VALERIANA, VALERIAN. (Name obscure.) Flowers early 

 summer, often dioecious, white or purplish. % 



* Root fibrous or rhizomatous ; leaves rather thin. 



t- Garden species from Eu., producing the medicinal Valerian-root. 



V. officinalis, Linn. The commonest in gardens ; 2°-3° high, a little 

 downy, with leaves of 11 to 21 lanceolate or oblong cut-toothed leaflets, 

 and rootstocks not running. 



V. Phii, Linn. Smooth, with root leaves simple, stem leaves of 5-7 

 entire leaflets or lobes, and rootstock horizontal. 



+- -t- Wild species X. and chiefly W. ; all rather rare or local. 



V. paucifl6ra. Michx. l°-2° high, smooth, with thin ovate and 

 heart-shaped toothed root leaves, stem leaves of 3-7 ovate leaflets ; flowers 

 rather few in the crowded panicled cyme ; corolla long and slender. 

 Woodlands, Penn. to 111. and S. W. 



V. sylvdtica, Banks. Root leaves mostly ovate or oblong and entire, 

 stem leaves with 5-11 lance-oblong or ovate almost entire leaflets ; corolla 

 funnel-form. Cedar swamps N. 



* * Root a spindle-shaped tuber; leaves thickish, more simple. 



V. ^dulls, Nutt. l°-4° high, the large root eaten by the Indians W., 

 leaves mo.stly from the root and minutely woolly on the edges, those of 

 the root lanceolate or spatulate, of the stem cut into 3-7 long and narrow 

 divisions. Alluvial ground from O. W. 



2. VALERIANELLA (or F^DIA), CORN SALAD, LAMB'S LET- 

 TUC'E. (Diminutive of Valeriana.) Our species are all very much 

 alike in appearance, smooth, with forking stems 6'-2(y high ; tender, 



