VALERIANA. 



Uiat ht became a captive to Sapor, A.D. 260, and was 

 treated cruelly and ignominioufly in his captivity. This dif- 

 trefs was aggravated by the ingratitude of his fon Gallienus, 

 who afforded him no relief in his captivity, but took advan- 

 tage of a report of his death to raife him to the rank of a 

 god. After languifhing in this ftate for a confiderable time, 

 he died in Perfia ; and it was rumoured, that after his death, 

 his fltin, fluffed with flraw, was hung up in a temple, where 

 Sapor exhibited it as an humihating fpeftacle to the ambaf- 

 ladors from Rome. Valerian, whofe adminiflration was 

 charged with want of vigour and activity in refiiling the 

 foes of the empire, was not unjuflly reproached as a perfe- 

 cutor of the Chriflj^ins. Regarding them as the enemies of 

 paganifni, he iffued an edift, which produced the eighth per- 

 fecution, as it has been called by ecclefiafticalhiftorians, and 

 which was both general and fevere, and lafted from the year 

 257 to the period of his captivity. The calamities which he 

 fufTered have been reprefented as a judgment upon him for 

 this cruelty. He was twice married, Gallienus being the 

 offspring of the firfl marriage ; and by the fecond he had at 

 leafl two fons. Anc. Un. Hift. Crevier. Gibbon. 



VALERIANA, in Botany, a name which feems to have 

 originated with the phyficians of the dark ages, and which 

 is evidently derived from valeo, to be powerful, or efficacious, 

 in allufion, as Cafpar Bauhin and Ambrofinus tell us, to the 

 many virtues of the plant. Linnaeus, in Phil. Bot. 171, 

 unaccountably ranks this name among thofe derived, like 

 Gentlana, Eupatortum, &c. from kings — Linn. Gen. 22. 

 Schreb. 29. Willd. Sp. PI. v. I. 175. Vahl Enum. v. 2. I. 

 Mart. Mill. Did. v. 4. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. 1.73. Sm. 

 Fl. Brit. 37. Prodr. Fl. Gric. Sibth. v. I. 20. Purfh 

 28. JufF. 195. Tourn. t. 52. Lamarck lUuttr. t. 24. 

 Gaertn. t. 86. — Clafs and order, Tilaridria Moiiogynia. Nat. 

 Ord. Aggr.gatts, Linn. Dipfaceie, Juff. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. fcarcely any, except a flight border at the 

 top of the germen. Cor. of one petal, irregular ; tube 

 fwelling, or {purred, underneath at the bafe, where it bears 

 honey ; limb in five obtufe fegments. Stam. Filaments three, 

 in fome cafes fewer, awl-fhaped, ercft, the length of the 

 corolla ; anthers roundifh. Pijl. Germen inferior ; ilyle 

 thread-fhapcd, the length of the ftamens ; ftigma thickifh. 

 Peric. a cruft, which does not fplit, deciduous, crowned. 

 Seed folitary, oblong, 



EfT. Ch. Calyx obfolete. Corolla fuperior, of one petr.l, 

 gibbous on one fide, at the bafe. Seed folitary. 



Obf. Linnseus remarks as follows on the wonderful di- 

 verfities of form and number in the parts of fruftification, 

 among the various fpecies of this genus. 



The calyx in fome is a fcarcely difcernible border ; in 

 others five-cleft. Tube of the corolla in fome oblong ; in a 

 few furnifhed with a fpur-fhaped neftary : in others very 

 fhort. Its limb in fome equal ; in others two-hpped, the 

 upper lip divided. Stamens in fevcral three ; in fome two ; 

 in others one or four ; in fome removed to a different flower 

 from tlie piftil. Stigma in fome three -cleft ; in others emar- 

 ginate ; in others globofe. Pericarp in fome fcarcely any ; 

 in others a thick capfule ; in others of two cells. Seed 

 fometimes crowned with feathery down, whofe form is va- 

 rious ; fometimes without any. 



By the above detail, the reader will be aware that Lin- 

 naeus includes under this genus the Fedia of Adanfon, (fee 

 that article,) which is what Tournefort, Vaillant, and re- 

 cently Decandolle, have called Valerianella. The fame 

 genus is adopted, under the laft-mentioned name, by our 

 worthy friend Mr. W. J. Hooker, in his continuation of 

 Curtis's Flora Londinenfis. Such diminutives of already 

 ellablifhed names, however, being contrary to the laws of 



Linnaeus, Phi]. Bot. feB. 227 and 228, and, which is ftill 

 more important, repugnant, in the higheft degree, to good 

 fenfe, have never been admitted by any writer, even the leaft 

 coriTft, fmce Linnaeus firfl promulgated found principles of 

 nomenclature, and can have been reforted to by the above 

 excellent botanifts, through inadvertence only. Fedia, being 

 unexceptionable, and received by Vahl in his Enumeration 

 mufl fuperfede Valerianella, provided the genus be allowed 

 to remain, of which we have already exprelfed our doubts. 

 We have indeed httle fcruple, all things confidered, in re- 

 jefting it. (See our 33d, 45th, and following fpecies.) 

 But having alre.idy noticed Fedia in its proper place, we 

 fhall here confine ourfelves to the generally admitted Vale- 

 riann, which conflitute an ample genus, recently augmented 

 by Vahl, whofe arrangement of fpecies we follow, from the 

 Fljra Peruviana, and other fources ; to which we have alfo 

 fomething to add. 



The genus under confideration is compofed of herbaceous 

 plants, either perennial or annual, with an upright round 

 Jlem, and oppofite leaves ; which are moftly fimple ; rarely 

 ternate or pinnate. Flowers terminal, numerous, oppofite, 

 corymbofe or panicled ; generally rcddifh, or flefh-coloured ; 

 rarely yellowifh ; fcarcely blue. The roots of fome are dif- 

 tlnguifhed by a mofl potent and very pecuhar odour. 



1. V. rubra. Red Valerian. Linn. Sp. PI. 44. "Willd. 

 n. I. Vahl n. i. Fl. Brit. n. i. Engl. Bot. t. 153 1. 

 (V. rubra Dodonxi ; Ger. Em. 678. V. marina ; Rivin. 

 Monop. Irr. t. 3. f. 2. Phu peregrinum ; Camer. Epit. 24.) 

 — Stamen one. Spur of the flower elongated. Leaves lan- 

 ceolate, nearly entire. — Native of walls, wafte ground, 

 chalk-pits, and dry hilly places, in England, Switzerland, 

 France, the north of Africa, Greece, and other parts of 

 the Levant. Certainly wild in the chalk-pits of Kent ; 

 flowering from June to September. The plant is common 

 in gardens, and on old walls. A deep red varietyis ufually 

 preferred for cultivation. The root is perennial, foetid, ra- 

 ther flL-fliy. Whole herb very fmooth, a little glaucous, 

 eighteen inches or two feet high. Upper leaves often 

 toothed, broadly ovate, with a long point. Flowers pink, 

 rarely white, flender, not inelegant, very numerous, in a 

 denfe repeatedly branched corymb. Seed-crown of many fea- 

 thery entangled rays, gradually unrolled after the flower is 

 pall. 



2. V. angujlifolia. Narrow-leaved Red Valerian. Willd. 

 n. 2. Vahl n. 2. Ait. n. 2. Cavan. Ic. v. 4. 32. t. 353. 

 Sm. Fl. Graec. Sibth. v. i. 22. t. 29. (V. rubra B ; Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 44. V. rubra anguftifolia ; Bauh. Hift. v. 3. 

 part 2. 211.) — Stamen one. Spur of the flower elongated. 

 Leaves linear-lanceol.ate, bluntifh, entire. — Native of hilly 

 fituations in France, Italy, Switzerland, and the Levant, 

 but not yet obferved in England. Dr. Sibthorp gathered 

 it on the higheft hills about Athens. This is very nearly 

 related to the former, with which it agrees altogether in 

 habit zwA/tOwers, but the leaves are all uniformly narrow, 

 almoft hnear, quite entire, and more obtufe at the ex- 

 tremity. 



3. V. calcitrapa. Cut-leaved Valerian. Linn. Sp. PI. 

 44. Willd. n. 3. Vahl n. 3. Ait. n. 3. Sm. Fl. Grac. 

 Sibth. v. I. 22. t. 30. (V. foliis calcitrapx ; Morif. feft. 7. 

 t. 14. f. 7. V. annua, feu jeftiva ; Cluf. Hift. v. 2. 54. 

 Ger. Em. 1077.) — Stamen one. Corolla flightly fpurred. 

 Leaves all pinnatifid and feflile — Native of Portugal, the 

 north of Africa, the Levant, and even of Peru ; but Vahl juftly 

 fufpetts its having been tranfported thither from Europe. 

 It is become a weed on many walls about Chelfea, having, 

 doubtlefs, efcaped from the phyfic garden there. An an- 

 nual upright herb, fcarcely branched, flowering in May 



and 



