VALERIANACE^. 



609 



Ceritranthus ruber, 



cymes, occasionally racemiform or spikelike. They inhabit all the 

 cold and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, both old and 

 new world, and those of the southern hemi- 

 sphere in America. 



Gentranthus (fig. 409) comprises Valerians 

 whose andrcecium is generally reduced to a 

 single stamen, that of the two laterals situate 

 on the side of ihe fertile ovarian cell. The 

 corolla has a bilabiate limb, a narrow tube 

 prolonged anteriorly at base to a long and 

 slender spur, and a sort of partition dividing 

 the tube to a considerable extent into two 

 narrow compartments, through one of which 

 pass the style and fertile stamen, whilst the 

 other is continued downwards into the spur. 

 Gentranthus -comprises annual or perennial 

 herbs of the Mediterranean region, with oppo- 

 site, entire or partly dentate or pinnatisect 

 leaves, and flowers in compound terminal clusters of cymes. 



Fig, 409. Flower, ovary, 

 and spur opened. 



This small family was not admitted by A.-L. de Jussieu ; he 

 placed ' Valeriana, by him confounded with Valerianella,^ among the 

 DipsacecE, with which they have many affinities. It was A.-P. de 

 Candolle who, in 1815,' established a family of Valerianeos,^ the 

 study of which he followed up in a special Memoir,' and in which he 

 included eleven genera : Patrinia, Nardostachys, Dufresnia, Valerianella, 

 Astrephia, Fedia, Plectritis, Gentranthus, Valeriana, Betckea and Tri- 

 plostegia. Three of these are, in our opinion, duplicate, and Triplo- 

 stegia has been referred to the true Dipsacece. The successors of 

 De Candolle have very slightly modified the constitution of this 

 family.^ Messrs. Bentham and Hookee' retain nine genera and 



1 Gm. (1789) 195. 



2 AdAkbon had, however, in 1763 {Fam. des 

 PI. ii. 152), distinguished J?«<?w from Vahriana; 

 he also placed in this same section his Polypre- 

 mum [Valerianella). 



^M.Franf.'{ei. 3) v. 232. 

 ■• ValerianeiB DC. Frodr. iv. (1830) 623, Ord. 

 99. — Valeriaiiacece Lindl. Veff. Kingd. (1846) 



697, Ord. 270. In 1811, Ddhiesne had puh- 

 lished his well-known monograph : Mistoire 

 Naturelle et MMicale de la Famille des Valiria- 

 nees (Montpellier, 4to). 



.5 Notice sitr laFamilledes Valirianees (1832). 



^ K. Desvx. Journ. Bot. ii. 174. — Bami. Ord, 

 Nat. 130,— End-l. Gen. 350, Ord. 118. 



7 Gen. ii. 161, Ord. 85. 



