CAT'S VALERIAN. 104 



Cat's Valerian (Vakriana officinalis). 



The Great or Cat' s Valerian will come under the notice of 

 the rambler whose way lies by the stream-side, through wet 

 meadows or swampy woods. Where it is found it occurs in 

 abundance, and its pretty flowers massed together in great 

 heads will attract attention at once. It has a short perennial 

 rootstock, increasing by suckers, and narrow pinnate leaves, 

 those from the root soon withering. The stems are from two 

 to four feet high, bearing the broad corymbs of pink or flesh- 

 coloured flowers. The calyx is five-parted, and the lobes are 

 at first rolled inward, but as the fruit matures these lobes 

 expand and assume the form of a circlet of finely branched 

 feathery hairs (pappus)* The corolla is shortly tubular, with 

 five lobes. The stamens three, and the stigma two-lobed. It 

 flowers from June to August. 



The roots have long been held in high esteem as a medicinal 

 agent in certain nervous affections ; and in some places the 

 plant is known as All-heal, owing to its virtues. It has a warm 

 aromatic taste, but when drying it develops a foetid odour, which 

 acts as a charm upon cats. If the reader would have cheerful 

 nights let him plant Valerian in his garden, and every cat in the 

 neighbourhood will call to enjoy it. Strange to say, rats are 

 equally delighted with its fragrance, and rat-catchers are said 

 to use Valerian to assist them in attracting their victims. 

 Query : Had the Pied-piper a root of Valerian in his poke ? 



There is one other native species, the Small Marsh Valerian {V. dioica), chiefly 

 affecting boggy places. It has a creeping rootstock, and the root leaves are egg- 

 shaped, with a long footstalk, whilst those of the stem are deeply lobed in pinnate 

 fashion, with a large leaflet at the tip. The flowers, which are pink, are minute, 

 and of four distinct kinds, which may be thus enumerated according to the size of 

 the corolla, i. Large, with anthers, but no pistil. 2. Small, with anthers and 

 rudimentary pistil. 3. Smaller, with pistil and rudimentary anthers. 4. Smallest, 

 with pistil, but no anthers. Flowers May and June. 



The name is from the Latin, "valere^ to be in health. 



