VALERIANACE^. t\\ 



but m the Lonicerece in which there are ordinarily irregular corollas, 

 a style with entire or little-divided stigmatiferous extremity, stamens 

 often to the number of four and unequal, with five divisions of the 

 corolla and also a single descending ovule, with dorsal raphe, like the 

 Talerianacece. But the Lonicerece have an abundant albumen, as in 

 most Rubiaceas proper, among which, it may be remarked, are observed 

 plants which, by their foetid odour, are analogous to the Valerianacece. ' 

 The latter, moreover, are not arborescent plants ; their stems ^ are 

 herbaceous or much more rarely frutescent. 



Uses.' — The odour of the Valerianacece is nearly always charac- 

 teristic, with some variation ; generally foetid, sometimes more or less 

 agreeable. It is due to the essence of Valerian or some analogous 

 substance. This essence, as obtained by distillation, contains a resin 

 a camphor analogous to the Borneo, valeric acid, valerol and borneene, 

 a carburet of hydrogen. The most extensively used of the Valerians, 

 chiefly as an antispasmodic medicine in various nervous affections, 

 -fevers, worms, &c., is F. officinale* (fig. 396, 404-408), of which 

 the subterranean portion only is prescribed. The Great Valerian 

 (F. Phu ^) was considered useful among the ancients, and its properties 

 are in fact the same, though less energetic ; but many authors have 

 thought that the species extolled by Dioscoeides was a difierent plant 



would alternate with the two posterior lohes is ^ Endl. EneUrid. 227. — Lindl. Veg. Kingd. 



wanting. The stamens disappear in order 698; Fl.Med.VlX. — Gob Srog. Simpl. (ed. 7) 



starting from the anterior lohe ; the two anterior iii. 67. — Eosenth. Synops. Plant. Diaphor. 253. 



[Fedia) or one ot them {Valeriana, Valerianella), * V: fijfieinalis L. Spec. 45. — Dupe. Valer. 40. 



or, besides the two anterior, one of the two — Blackw. Berb. t. 171. — ^Woodw. Med. Sot. i. 



lateral, that which is not on the side of the fer- 196. — Hayn. Arxn. Gew. iii. t. 32.— DC. Prodr. 



tile ovarian cell {Gentrauthus). iv. 641, n. 80.— Meb. et Del. Diet. Mat. Mid. vi. 



'Several Viburnums are said to contain Va- 830.— Pierlot, Not. mr la Valeriane. — Guib. 



■leric Acid. Drag. Simpl. (ed. 7) iii. 68, fig. 590.— Gbkn. et 



' The stems are very variable in form and Godb. Fl. de Fr. ii. 64. — Berg et Schm. Darst. 



dimensions ; there ^fe" "stemless " Valerianacees, Off. Gew. t. 28, d. — Hanb. et FlSck. Phannacog. 



■that is with very s2ort stems, and others with 337.— Caz. PI. Mid. Indig. (ed. 3) 1080. — V. ex- 



long slender climbing stems. Several of these celaa Poik. Diet. vii. 301.— F^ «Wssmm Mik. 



stems have been anatomically described in a Besser Eimm. i.~V.repens Host. Fl. Austr. i. 



memoir by M. J. Chatin, who notes, among 35 {Wild Valerian, Small Valerim.—V.sylves- 



other discoveries, a " general cortical system tris, Phu germanicum, Phu parvum off.) . 



without liberian fibres." The rest much re- ' h. Spec. 45.— Hayn. loc. cit. t. 33.— Guib. 



■sembles the anatomical studies of M. A. foe. cii. 71.— Gebn. et Godr. i^"^. de ^r. ii. 54 



Chatin. (Great Valerian, Garden V.). 



