- 
218 THE VALERIAN FAMILY. [ Oentranthis 
nial stock much branched, forming when old an almost bushy, coarse tuft; — 
the whole plant quite glabrous and often somewhat glaucous. Stems stout, 
1 to near 2 feet high. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, entire or scarcely toothed. 
Flowers numerous, red or rarely white, in dense cymes, forming a hand- 
some, oblong terminal panicle. Tube of the corolla 3 or 4 lines long, with 
a spur of at least a line. Border of the calyx unrolling in the ripe fruit into 
a little elegant, bell-shaped, feathery pappus. 
A native of rocky places in the Mediterranean region, but, long cultivated 
for ornament, ithas become naturalized on old walls in most parts of central 
Europe, as in many localities in England and Ireland. FY. all summer. 
II. VALERIANA. VALERIAN. 
Herbs with a perennial stock and usually erect flowering stems. Leaves 
opposite, those of the stem usually pinnately divided or toothed, the lowest 
often entire. Flowers white or red, small, usually numerous, in terminal 
corymbs or panicles, sometimes contracted into heads. Calyx with a pro- 
minent border, at the time of flowering rolled inwards and entire, as the 
fruit ripens opening out into a little, bell-shaped, feathery pappus. Corolla 
with a short tube, not spurred at the base, and 5 short lobes. Stamens 8. 
Fruit small, 1-seeded, crowned with the pappus. 
A large genus, with the geographical range of the family, but most 
abundant in mountain regions, where some species ascend to great 
elevations. © 
Lower leaves undivided. 
Stem 6 to 8inches high. Radical leaves and segments of the 
upper ones entire : 1. V. dioica 
Stem 2 to 4 feet. Leaves large, broadly cordate, and toothed | : 3. V. pyrenaica. 
All the leaves pinnately divided, with several pairs of segments . 2. V. officinalis. 
1, V. dioica, Linn. (fig. 483). Marsh Valerian.—Rootstock emitting 
creeping running and erect flowering stems, 6 to 8 inches high. Radical 
leaves and those of the runners on long stalks, ovate, entire, 4 to 1 inch 
long; stem leaves few, mostly pinnate, with one ovalor oblong terminal 
segment and several pairs of smaller and narrow ones, all entire. Flowers 
very variable in size, and in the size of the stamens, of a pale rose- 
colour, in terminal corymbs, mostly unisexual; the tube of the corolla 
short. 7 
A marsh plant, spread over a great part of Europe and eastward to the 
Caucasus, but apparently more common in the west than in the east; ex- 
tending northward into southern Scandinavia. In most English counties 
and ina few of the southern Scotch ones, but not ,recorded from Ireland. 
Fl. early summer. | 
2, V. officinalis, Linn. (fig. 484). Common Valerian, All-heal. 
—Rootstock short and thick, with creeping runners, and one or rarely 
more erect stems, 2 to 3 or even 4 feet high, nearly simple, and more or less 
hairy at the base. Leaves pinnate, with from 9 to 21, or even more lanceo- 
late segments, 1 to 2 or even 3 inches long, and much varying in breadth, 
marked with a few coarse teeth, and more or less sprinkled with hairs 
underneath ; the upper leaves few and distant. Flowers small, white or 
tinged with pink, in broad terminal corymbs. - 
In moist situations, sides of ditches and streams, and damp woods, ex- 
