VALERIANACE^:. (VALERIAN FAMILY.) 213 



nearly linear ; earlier peduncles elongated and spreading in fruit, the later ones 

 short; tube of the purplish corolla not longer than its lobes nor than the ample calyx- 

 lobes (l' long). Dry hills, W. Illinois and southwestward. March -May. 



4. H. CSerillea, L. (BLUETS.) Glabrous; stems erect, slender, sparingly 

 branched from the base (3' -5' high); leaves oblong-spatulate (3" -4" long); 

 peduncle filiform, erect ; corolla with tube much longer than its lobes or than those 

 of the calyx. (Oldenlandia caerulea, ed. 2.) Moist and grassy places; produ- 

 cing from early spring to midsummer its delicate little flowers, light blue, pale 

 lilac, or nearly white with a yellowish eye. 



H. SERPYLLIF6LIA, Michx., with similar flowers, but with slender 

 creeping stems, abounding in the mountains of N. Carolina, may occur in 

 those of Virginia. 



H. ROTUNDIF6LIA, Michx., also creeping, but with much larger round- 

 ish leaves, and axillary peduncles nodding in fruit, belongs to the low country 

 of the Southern States, and may occur in S. E. Virginia. 



ORDER 51. VAL.EIMAJVACEJE. (VALERIAN FAMILY.) 



Herbs, with opposite leaves and no stipules ; the calyx-tube coherent with 

 the ovary, which has one fertile 1-ovuled cell and two abortive or empty ones; 

 the stamens distinct, 1-3, fewer than the lobes of the corolla, and inserted 

 on its tube. Corolla tubular or funnel-form, often irregular, mostly 5- 

 lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud. Style slender : stigmas 1-3. 

 Fruit indehiscent, 1 -celled (the two empty cells of the ovary disappear- 

 ing), or 3-celled, two of them empty, the other 1 -seeded. Seed suspended, 

 anatropous, with a large embryo and no albumen. Flowers in panicled 

 or clustered cymes. (Roots often odorous and antispasmodic.) Repre- 

 sented by only two genera. 



1. VALERIANA, Tourn. VALERIAN. 



Limb of the calyx of several plumose bristles (like a pappus) which are rolled 

 tip inwards in flower, but unroll and spread as the seed-like 1-celled fruit ma- 

 tures. Corolla commonly gibbous near the base, the 5-lobed limb nearly regular. 

 Stamens 3. Perennial herbs, with thickened strong-scented roots, and simple 

 or pinnate leaves. Flowers in many species imperfectly dioecious, or dimorphous. 

 (Name from valere, to have efficacy, alluding to the medicinal qualities.) 

 * Root fibrous: leaves thin. (Stems l-3 high.) 



1 . V. paucifibra, Michx. Smooth, slender, surculose ; root-leaves ovate, 

 heart-shaped, toothed, pointed, sometimes with 2 small lateral divisions ; stem- 

 leaves pinnate, with 3-7 ovate toothed leaflets ; branches of the panicled cyme 

 few-flowered; tube of the (pale pink) corolla long and slender (%' long). Wood- 

 lands, and alluvial banks, Penn. (near Lancaster; Prof. Porter) and Ohio to S. 

 Illinois and southward. June. 



2. V. sylvatica, Richards. Smooth or minutely pubescent; root-leaves 

 ovate or oblong, entire, rarely with 2 small lobes ; stem-leaves pinnate, with 5-11 



