TALERIANE.5:. 279 



unrolling afterwards into a feathery pappus. Corolla in the 

 British genera raonopetalous, tubular at the base, with 5 

 spreading lobes. Stamens always fewer than the lobes of the 

 corolla. Fruit small, dry, and seed-like, with a single seed sus- 

 pended from the top of the cell, with the addition frequently 

 of 1 or 2 imperfect or abortive empty cells. 



A natural family, not large, but widely diffused over a great part of the 

 globe. Well characterized among inferior-fruited Monopetals by the seed- 

 like fruit and reduced number of stamens. 



Stamen 1. Tube of the corolla spurred at the base 1. Centeanth. 



Stamens 3. Tube of the eoroUa slightly swollen at the base but not 

 spurred. 



Perennials. Fruit crowned by a feathery pappus 2. VAiiBETAN. 



Annuals. Fruit crowned by a small, cup-shaped, or toothed border 3. Coensalad. 



I. CBNTRANTH. CENTEANTHUS. 



Habit, calyx, and fruit of Valerian. CoroUa with a more slender tube 

 projected at the base into a little spur, and only 1 stamen. 



A small genus front the Mediterranean and Caucasian regions. 



1. Ked Ceutranth. Centranthus ruber, DC. 



{Valeriana, Eng. Bot. t. 1531. Red Valerian.) 

 Perennial stock much branched, forming when old an almost bushy, 

 coarse tuft ; the whole plaut quite glabrous and often somewhat glaucou.->. 

 Stems stout, 1 to near 2 feet high. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, entire or 

 scarcely toothed. Flowers numerous, red or rarely white, in dense cymes, 

 forming a handsome, oblong terminal panicle. Tube of the corolla 3 or 4 

 lines long, with a spur of at least a Ime. Border of the calyx unroUing in 

 the ripe fruit into a little elegant, beU-shaped, feathery pappus. 



A native of rocky places in the Mediterranean region, but, long cultivated 

 for ornament, it has become naturalized on old walls in most parts of cen- 

 tral Europe, as in many locaUties in England and Ireland. Fl. all summer. 



II. VAIiSRIAN. VALERIANA. 



Herbs with a perennial stock and usually erect flowering-stems. Leaves 

 opposite, those of the stem usually pinnately divided or toothed, the lowest 

 often entire. Flowers white or red, small, usually numerous, in terminal 

 corymbs or panicles, sometimes contracted into heads. Calyx with a pro- 

 minent border, at tlie time of flowering rolled inwards and entire, as the 

 fi-uit ripens opening out into a little, bell-shaped, feathei"y pappus. CoroUa 

 with a short tube, not spurred at the base, and 5 short lobes. Stamens 3. 

 , Fruit small, 1 -seeded, crowned with the pappus. 



A large genus, with the geographical range of the family, but most abun- 

 dant in mountain regions, where some species ascend to great elevations. 



Lower leaves undivided. 



ytem 6 to 8 inches high. Radical leaves and segments of the upper 



ones entire 1. Harsh V. 



Stem 2 to 4 feet. Leaves large, broadly cordate, and toothed ... 3. Pyrenean V. 

 All the leaves pinnately divided, «-ith several pairs of segments ... 2. Common V. 



