VALERIAN FAMILY 235 
1. S. canadensis L. Common Exper. Stems 5-10 ft. high, with 
a thin cylinder of wood surrounding abundant white pith. Leaflets 
5-11, oblong, taper-pointed, smooth, Cymes flat and often very 
large. Fruit “purplish. black, insipid or almost nauseous, but some- 
what used in cookery. 
2. S. racemosa L. Rev-Berriep Erper. More woody, with 
brown pith. Leaflets fewer, downy beneath, especially when young. 
Cymes panicled and somewhat pyramidal. Fruit scarlet. 
97. VALERIANACEA. Varerran Famity 
Herbs, rarely shrubs. Leaves opposite, without stipules. 
Flowers epigynous, small, usually not actinomorphiec, in fork- 
ing cymes. Corolla funnel-shaped, the base often with a sac 
or spur. Stamens 1-3 or 5, inserted at the base of the corolla 
tube ; filaments slender, anthers versatile. Ovary cells 3; two 
of them not ovule-bearing, the third with a single ovule hang- 
ing from the top; style thread-like ; stigma blunt or 2-3-lobed. 
Fruit small, not sphtting open. 
I. VALERIANA L. 
Perennial, rarely annual, herbs. Basal leaves crowded; stem 
leaves opposite or whorled, entire or pinnately cut. Flowers 
in corymbed, headed, or panicled cymes. Limb of the calyx 
consisting of several plumy bristles. Lobes of the corolla 5 
or rarely 3-4, unequal. Stamens 3. Stigma knobbed. Fruit 
flattened, ribbed, 1-celled, 1-seeded. 
1. V. edulis Nutt. An upright, straight-stemmed plant, 1-4 ft. 
high. Leaves all thickish and closely fringed with short hairs; root 
leaves linear-spatulate or lanceolate-spatulate, entire; stem leaves 
pinnately parted, the 5-7 divisions long and narrow. Flowers almost 
dicecious in a long, interrupted panicle. Corolla whitish. Root long 
and stout, eaten by Indians. Low ground and wet prairies, especially 
N.W. 
2. V. officinalis L. GARDEN VALERIAN. Plant smooth or hairy 
below, strong smelling. Rootstock short. Leaves all pinnate; basal 
leaves long-petioled, soon withering; stem leaves 2-5 in. long, sessile, 
the leaflets lanceolate, entire or serrate. Corolla pale pink. Root- 
stocks strong-scented, used in medicine. Cultivated from Europe. 
