EED VALERIAN. 



Centranthus ruber. 

 Nat. Ord., Yalerianaceee. 



,IKE the ivy-leaved toad-flax, the 

 present plant is not one of our 

 indigenous species, but, like that 

 again, it has got so far estab- 

 lished at home with us that it 

 fitly finds a place in our series. 

 It resembles, too, the ivy-leaved 

 toad-flax in another important 

 particular : both are naturally 

 plants of the countries border- 

 ing the Mediterranean Sea. It 

 is probable that the red vale- 

 rian was originally introduced 

 on account of its beauty, as we 

 find it mentioned by many of 

 the older writers as a garden 

 flower. Thus Gerarde, writing 

 A.D. 1633, says, " It groweth 

 plentifully in my garden, being 



a great ornament to the same;" and Parkinson, A.D. 1640, 

 says, " In our gardens chiefly, for we know not the natural 

 place." Edwards, in his " Flora Britannica," published in 

 1812, speaks of it as a garden flower, and says that it mav 

 readily be propagated by parting the roots and planting 



