VALERIANACE.fi. 385 



Description. — Root a short tuberculated rhizome from which issue many long, slender 

 fibres of a dusky-brown colour. The stem is erect, hollow, smooth, furrowed, about three 

 or four feet high. The leaves are of a deep glossy green, serrated, somewhat hairy be- 

 neath, opposite, pinnate, but differing in the number of leaflets. The lower leaves generally 

 are furnished with ten pairs, those of the stem with nine, and the upper ones with from 

 five to seven. The radical leaves are larger and have long petioles. The flowers, which 

 are small and of a reddish-white colour, are in dense corymb-like panicles, terminal and 

 perfect. The calyx is a mere border finally expanding into a kind of pappus to the seed. 

 The corolla is tubular with a protuberance at base, and is divided into five obtuse seg- 

 ments. The stamens are three, subulate, with oblong yellow anthers. The ovary is 

 inferior, oblong, and supports a filiform style, terminated by a trifid stigma. The seeds 

 are oblong-ovate, compressed and crowned with a setaceous pappus of ten rays. 



The Wild Valerian is a tall perennial, found in many parts of Europe in 

 damp places, flowering from June to August, and is cultivated to some extent 

 in England. It was for a long time supposed to be the plant mentioned by 

 Dioscorides, but Dr. Sibthorp states that the Valerian of the ancients was 

 another species, which he has figured and described under the name of V. 

 Dioscoridis, and he says that it has a much more pungent and durable, 

 though not as unpleasant an odour, as the V. officinalis. The part used in 

 medicine, is the root; this, as found in commerce, consists of numerous long, 

 slender, cylindrical fibres, attached to a rough tuberculated head, often with 

 part of the stem attached. There are, however, several varieties used under 

 the name of Valerian, all differing somewhat in their appearance and derived 

 from different species, especially the V. phu and the V. dioica. The best is 

 the English, which is exclusively the product of the plant under considera- 

 tion. The colour of the dried root is externally yellowish or brown, and in- 

 ternally white. The powder is yellowish-gray. The odour is powerful and 

 peculiar and extremely unpleasant to some persons, whilst to others it is 

 agreeable. Cats are extremely fond of it, and the smell produces a kind of 

 intoxication in them. The taste is bitterish, subacrid and aromatic. 



Valerian yields its active properties both to water and alcohol. Its compo- 

 sition according to Tromsdorff is Volatile oil, a peculiar Resinous extractive, 

 Gummy extractive, Resin, &c. The volatile oil, which is the efficient principle, 

 exists in small quantity, and is of a yellowish or pale-green colour. If the 

 acid oil first obtained on distillation be mixed with magnesia and again dis- 

 tilled, the pure oil passes over, and the magnesia unites to the acid, which is 

 called the Valerianic. The acid and its salts, especially that of zinc, have 

 of late years attracted some attention as antispasmodics, but there is no evi- 

 dence to show that they are more efficient than the oil. 



Medical Properties. — Valerian acts with some energy on the cerebrospi- 

 nal system, but its effects are not constant, as in some constitutions, it ope- 

 rates as a powerful stimulant and antispasmodic, whilst the same doses in 

 others scarcely make any impression. It is, however, in very general use 

 as a nervous excitant and antispasmodic, though in much more repute for- 

 merly than at the present day, except in Germany, where it is deemed one 

 of the most powerful of the nervous stimulants. It has been celebrated in 

 epilepsy, and many cases are related in which it proved beneficial, but like 

 everything else in this inexplicable disorder, the failures with it have been 

 far more numerous than the cures. In cases of hysteria it is certainly bene- 

 ficial, and oftentimes very prompt in its effects. The best mode of adminis- 

 tration is in the form of the ammoniated tincture, the dose of which is from 

 a drachm to two drachms. It is also given in powder in doses of a scruple 

 to a couple of drachms, or in infusion, which latter form is to be prepared. 

 Dr. Cullen is of opinion that the roots of those plants which grow in a dry 



25 



