874 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



" Then comes the tulip-race, where beauty plays 

 ^Her idle freaks : from family diffused 

 To family, as flies the father dust, 

 The varied colours run ; and while they break 

 On the charmed eye, th' exulting florist marks 

 With secret pride the wonders of his hand." 



THOMSON. 



VALERIAN. 



VALERIANA. 



VALERIANE^E. TRIANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



The derivation of this name is uncertain. French, la valeriane. 

 Italian, valeriana. 



THE Valerians vary in size from three or four feet to as 

 many inches ; their flowers are commonly red or white, 

 but there are a few species with blue, and with yellow 

 flowers. 



The seeds may be sown of the annual kinds, and the 

 roots parted of the perennial, in spring or autumn. Some 

 of them, as the Red and the Alpine Valerians, thrive best 

 on rocks, old walls, or buildings ; the seed being scattered 

 in the joints and chinks. 



The Pyrenean species likes shade and a moist soil : the 

 Garden Valerian likes moisture too, and plenty of room, as 

 it spreads fast. 



All the kinds must be kept moderately moist. Some 

 give the Alpine kinds a poor stony soil covered with moss, 

 in imitation of their natural place of growth, on mossy 

 rocks, where the snow lies six or seven months in the year. 



