284 



VALERIANACEAE. 



VOL. III. 



Family 39. VALERIANACEAE Batsch, Tabl. Aff. 227. 1802. 



VALERIAN FAMILY. 



Herbs with opposite leaves, no stipules, and usually small perfect or polygamo- 

 dioecious flowers, in corymbed panicled or capitate cymes. Calyx-tube adnate to 

 the ovary, its limb inconspicuous or none in flower, often becoming prominent in 

 fruit. Corolla gamopetalous, epigynous, somewhat irregular, its tube narrowed, 

 and sometimes gibbous or spurred at the base, its limb spreading, mostly 5-lobed. 

 Stamens 1-4, inserted on the corolla and alternate with its lobes, usually exserted. 

 Ovary inferior, i-3-celled, one of the cavities containing a single anatropous ovule, 

 the others empty. Fruit indehiscent, dry, containing a single suspended seed. 

 Endosperm little or none ; embryo straight ; cotyledons oblong. 



About 9 genera and 300 species, of wide distribution, most abundant in the northern hemisphere. 

 Fruit i-celled; persistent calyx-lobes becoming awn-like; tall herbs. 

 Fruit 3-celled ; calyx-lobes minute or none ; low herbs. 



1. Valeriana. 



2. Valerianella. 



i. VALERIANA [Tourn.] L. Sp. PI. 31. 1753. 



Perennial, strong-smelling, mostly tall herbs, the leaves mainly basal and the cymose 

 flowers paniculate in our species. Calyx-limb of 5-1.5 bristle-like plumose teeth, short and 

 inrolled in flower, but elongated, rolled outward and conspicuous in fruit. Corolla funnel- 

 form or tubular, usually more or less gibbous at the base, the limb nearly equally 5-lobed. 

 Stamens commonly 3. Style entire, or minutely 2-3-lobed at the summit. Fruit compressed, 

 i-celled, i-nerved on the back, 3-nerved on the front. [Name Middle Latin, from valere, 

 to be strong.] 



About 175 species, mostly in the temperate and colder parts of the north temperate zone and 

 the Andes of South America. Besides the following, 5 others occur in southern and western North 

 America. Type species : Valeriana pyrenaica L. 



Corolla-tube very slender, 6"-io" long; basal leaves cordate. i. V. pauciflora. 



Corolla-tube i"-j," long; basal leaves not cordate. 



Leaves thick, parallel-veined, entire, or the segments not dentate ; roots fusiform. 



2. V . edulis. 

 Leaves thin, reticulate-veined, the segments dentate; roots fibrous. 



Lower leaves spatulate, often entire ; plants glabrous. 



Segments of middle stem-leaves 9-13, usually sinuate-dentate; corolla i.7"-2.s" wide. 



3. V. uliginosa. 

 Segments of middle stem-leaves 5-7, entire ; corolla 1.5" wide or less. 4. V '. septentrionalis. 



All the leaves pinnately divided ; plants pubescent, especially at the nodes. 



5. V. officinalis. 



i. Valeriana pauciflora Michx. Large-flowered Valerian. Fig. 3995. 



V. pauciflora Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. i : 18. 1803. 



Rootstocks slender, usually horizontal. 

 Stem glabrous, erect or ascending, i-3 

 high, often sending out runners from the 

 base ; leaves thin, the basal ones slender- 

 petioled, simple, or sometimes with a pair 

 of small leaflets on the petiole, broadly 

 ovate, cordate, acute at the apex, the mar- 

 gins crenate or dentate; stem leaves pin- 

 nately 3-7-divided, the terminal segment 

 larger than the others ; cymes terminal, 

 clustered ; flowers few or numerous ; co- 

 rolla pink, its tube very slender, 6"-io" 

 long; bracts linear; fruit oblong or oblong- 

 lanceolate, about 3" long, glabrous or 

 puberulent; bristles of the calyx at length 

 elongated and plumose. 



In moist soil, Pennsylvania to West Vir- 

 ginia, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mis- 

 souri. American wild valerian. May-June. 



