VALERIANACE^E. (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 (iy long). — Dry hills, W. Illinois and southwestward. March -May. 



4. H. C8erillea, L. (Bluets.) Glabrous; stems erect, slender, sparingly 

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

 pedan&le filiform, erect; corolla with tube much longer than its lobes or than those 

 of the calyx. (Oldenlandia cserulea, 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. serpyllifolia, Michx., — with similar flowers, but with slender 

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

 those of Virginia. 



H. rotl'ndifolia, 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.ERIANACEJE. (Valerian Family.) 



Herbs, with opposite leaves arid no stipules : the calyx-lube coherent with 

 the ovary, which has one fertile l-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 

 up 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. paucifl6ra, 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 



