YALERIANACE.E. 



235 



Stem slender, finely striate, hollow, paniculately branched from 

 the base, or in small specimens simple up to the panicle. .Leaves 

 i to 2 inches Ion-, very variable in the degree of division, sometimes 

 all pinnatifid, more generally the intermediate and lower ones lyrate- 

 pinnatifid, lowest of all entire. Panicle at first dense but becoming 

 lax in fruit ; branches opposite, forked. Corolla pinkish-lilac, to inch 

 Ion-; the spur about the middle of the tube and very minute ; limb 

 J. inch across, with 5 narrow segments. Fruit pale-olive, nearly 

 smooth, i inch long, oblong-ovoid, flattened from back to front, 

 attenuated towards" the apex, with a very faint rib down the back, 

 and 5 stronger ones on the face, which is concave, crowned at the . 

 apex with a smaU neck-like cup on which the plumose pappus is 

 situated. Plant glabrous, pale-green. 



Cut-leaved Valerian. 



French, Centrante Chausse-trappe. 



GEN US IL—V ALERIANA. Linn, 



Calyx-limb involute during flowering, afterwards spreading out 

 into a 'deciduous pappus with numerous plumose rays. Corolla 

 tubular-funnelshaped, with the tube obconic or cvlindrical- 

 obconic, equal or gibbous on one side at the base, but not spurred ; 

 limb regular, 5-cleft rarely 3-cleft, with obtuse lobes. Stamens 3. 

 Pruit 1-celled and 1-seeded, crowned by a plumose pappus. 



Herbs or under-shrubs, with the leaves entire or divided. 

 Plowers white, pink, rarely bluish or yellow, frequently dioecious, 

 sessile, in heads or corymbose cymes sometimes arranged in a 

 panicle, with unilateral branches, generally lengthening into racemes 

 in fruit. 



The derivation of the name of this genus of plants is differently given. It is said 

 by some authors to have been named after Valerius, who first used it in medicine; 

 while others derive the name from the word valere, to be in health, on account of its 

 medicinal qualities. 



SPECIES I.-VALE III AN A OFFICINALIS. Linn, 

 Plate DCLXVI. 



Eootstock usually stoloniferous. Root-fibres slightly thickened, 

 cylindrical, tapering. Stem erect, deeply striated, glabrous or 

 pubescent towards the base. Leaves all pinnate, with 4 to 10 pair 

 of leaflets ; leaflets ovate-lanceolate or strapshaped, the terminal 

 one not conspicuously larger than the others ; lower leaves with 

 broader leaflets than the upper ones. Plowers all perfect, in a 

 compound corymbose cyme. Pruit glabrous. 



