762 VALERIANACEAE (VALERIAN FAMILY) 



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

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

 (A mediaeval Latin name of uncertain origin.) 



* Root spindle-shaped, large and deep, 1.5-3 dm. long ; leaves thickish. 



1. V. edulis Nutt. Smooth, or minutely downy when very young; stem 

 straight, 3-12 dm. high, few-leaved ; leaves commonly minutely and densely 

 ciliate, the basal spatulate and lanceolate, the cauline pinnately parted into 

 3-7 long and narrow divisions ; flowers in a long and slender interrupted panicle, 

 nearly dioecious ; corolla whitish, obconical, 4 mm. long. Wet plains and 

 prairies, O. and Ont. to la., Minn., and westw. ; sometimes cultivated, and 

 escaping eastw. May, June. 



* * Root fibrous ; leaves thin; stems 3-15 dm. high. 



2. V. uliginbsa (T. & G.) Rydb. (SWAMP V.) Smooth or minutely pubes- 

 cent ; root-leaves ovate or oblong, entire, rarely with small lobes ; stem-leaves 

 pinnate, with 7-15 oblong-ovate or lanceolate nearly entire leaflets ; cyme at 

 first close, many-flowered ; corolla inversely conical, 6 mm. long, rose-color or 

 white. ( V. sylvatica Man. ed. 6, not Banks.) Wet ground, chiefly under Arbor 

 Vitae and Larch, e. Que. to w. Ont., s. to Me., Vt., s. N. Y., and Mich. June- 

 Aug. 



3. V. OFFICINALIS L. (GARDEN HELIOTROPE.) Coarse, somewhat pubes- 

 cent, especially at the nodes ; leaves all pinnate, with many lanceolate leaflets ; 

 cyme many-flowered ; corolla white or rose-color, 4 mm. long. Roadsides and 

 thickets, N. E. to N. J. and O. ; escaped from cultivation. (Nat. from Eu.) 



4. V. pauciflbra 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 slender, 1 cm. long. Woods and 

 alluvial banks, Pa. to s. 111., Mo., and Tenn. June. 



2. VALERIANELLA [Tourn.] Hill. CORN SALAD. LAMB'S LETTUCE 



Limb of the calyx obsolete or merely toothed. Corolla funnel-form or salver- 

 form, equally or unequally 5-lobed. Stamens 3, rarely 2. Fruit 3-celled, two 

 of the cells empty and sometimes confluent into one, the other 1-seeded. An- 

 nuals and biennials, usually smooth, with forking stems, tender and rather 

 succulent leaves (entire or cut-lobed toward the base), and white or pale 

 cymose-clustered and bracted small flowers. Our species all have the limb of 

 the calyx obsolete, and are so much alike in aspect, flowers, etc., that good char- 

 acters are to be taken only from the fruit. (Name a diminutive of Valeriana.} 



1. Corolla nearly regular, funnel-form; the tube short ; fruit with 2 empty 

 cells manifest, or often enlarged and closed, sometimes conjluent into 1 cell. 



* Corolla bluish; fruit with a corky mass at the back of the fertile cell. 



1. V. LOCUSTA (L.) Betcke. Fruit flattish, obliquely rhomboidal ; empty cells 

 as large as the fertile, contiguous, the thin partition at length breaking up. 

 (V. olitoria Poll.) Old fields and waste places, Me. to w. N. Y., Ont., and 

 south w. Sometimes cultivated for salad. (Introd. from Eu.) 



* * Corolla white ; no corky mass behind the fertile cell. 

 H- Fertile cell broader than the empty ones; cross-section of fruit triangular. 



2. V. chenopodif&lia (Pursh) DC. Stems with long internodes and few 

 forks ; glomerate cymes few, slender-peduncled ; bracts broadly lanceolate ; 

 fruit glabrous or pubescent, 4 mm. long. Moist grounds, w. N. Y. to Minn., 

 s. to Va. and Ky. 



-t- H- Fertile cell as broad as the empty ones, beaked; cross-section quadrate. 



3. V. radiata (L.) Dufr. Fruit ovate-tetragonal, downy-pubescent; empty 

 cells as thick as the oblong-ovate fertile one, or thicker, a broad shallow groove 



