244 



VALERIANACEAE. 



[Vol. III. 



i. Valeriana paucifldra Michx. Large-flowered Valerian. (Fig. 3471.) 



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

 Rootstocks slender, usually horizontal. 

 Stem glabrous, erect or ascending, i-3 

 high, often sending out runners froni 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 and Missouri. Call- 

 ed also American Wild Valerian. May-June. 



2. Valeriana edulis Nutt. Edible 

 Valerian. Tobacco-root. (Fig. 3472.) 

 V. edulis Nutt. in T. & G. Fl. N. A. 2: 48. 1841. 



Erect,i-4 high, from a deep fusiform car- 

 rot-shaped root. Stem glabrous, or nearly 

 so, the young leaves commonly more or 

 less pubescent and the older ones finely cil- 

 iate, sometimes glabrous; basal leaves spat- 

 ulate or oblauceolate, thick, 3 / -i2 / long, 

 2"-\o' f wide, obtuse at the apex, narrowed 

 into a margined petiole, parallel-veined, en- 

 tire or with a few obtuse entire lobes; stem 

 leaves few, sessile, pinnately-parted into 

 linear or lanceolate segments; flowers yel- 

 lowish-white, small (2") polygamo-dioe- 

 cious, paniculate, the inflorescence at length 

 widely branching; bracts lanceolate, short; 

 fruit narrowly ovate, glabrous or nearly so, 

 1" long, at length exceeded by the plumose calyx-teeth. 



In wet open places, Ontario to British Columbia, south to Ohio, Wisconsin, and in the Rocky Mount- 

 tains to Arizona and New Mexico. Called also Oregon Tobacco ; the root cooked for food. May- Aug. 



3. Valeriana sylvatica Banks. Wood or Swamp Valerian. (Fig. 3473.) 



J r aleriana sylvatica Banks; Richards. App. 



Frank. Journ. Ed. 2, 2. 1823. 

 Valeriana dioica Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 727. 



1814. Not I,. 1753. 



Erect, glabrous or very nearly so through- 



out, 8" 



high. Rootstocks creeping or 



ascending; basal leaves thin, petioled, oblong 

 or spatulate, obtuse, entire, or with a few 

 obtuse lobes, reticulate-veined, 2 / -io' long, 

 3 // -i8 // wide; stem leaves 2-4 pairs, petioled, 

 pinnately parted into 3-13 ovate to lanceo- 

 late, dentate or rarely entire, acute or obtuse 

 segments; inflorescence cymose-pauiculate, 

 at length loosely branched; flowers pink or 

 nearly white, 3 // -4 // long; bracts linear-lan- 

 ceolate; fruit ovate, glabrous, 1%" long. 



In wet soil, Newfoundland to British Colum- 

 bia, south to Vermont, New York, Ontario, 

 Michigan and in the Rocky Mountains to New 

 Mexico and Arizona. Also in northeastern Asia. 

 Called also American Wild Valerian. May-Aug. 



