26 42. VALERIANACEiE. 



two Highland counties are placed interrogatively in order 

 to draw forth a confirmation ; while they are assumed to 

 be correct in indicating the area, census, &c. I have seen 

 the species in Cumberland at an elevation which was esti- 

 mated to be above 1200 feet. 



532. Valeriana OFFICINALIS, Zm;?. /^ A^^-^-'/-^^ 

 532, b. Valeriana sambucifolia, Mik. 



Area general. 



South limit in Cornwall, Isle of Wight, Kent, 



North limit in Orkney, Hebrides, Ross. 



Estimate of provinces 18. Estimate of counties 80. 



Latitude 50 — 60. British type of distribution. 



A. A. region. Inferagrarian — Inferarctic zones. 



Descends to the coast level, in the Peninsula. 



Ascends to 650 yards, in East Highlands. 



Range of mean annual temperature 52 — 41. 



Native. Paludal. It is impossible to separate the lo- 

 calities recorded for one or other of these two alleged spe- 

 cies, under the common name of V. officinalis. Nor, 

 indeed, am I prepared to do this with the specimens in 

 my own herbarium, most or all of which probably belong 

 to V. sambucifolia. Mr. Babington says that the latter is 

 " a species universally adopted on the Continent ; " and yet 

 he can adduce no better contrast of characters than 5 pairs 

 of leaflets for V. sambucifolia, and 7 or upwards for V. 

 officinalis : to which, then, belong examples with six pairs 

 of leaflets ? If true species, there must be better charac- 

 ters than the single one mentioned. In the Prodromus of 

 De CandoUe, V. sambucifolia is indeed entered as if a spe- 

 cies, but the description is followed by the question, " An 

 V. officiuali satis diffiert ? " 



