V A L 
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V A L 
VALENCIENNES, a fortified town of French Flanders, 
situated on the Scheldt, which becomes here a navigable 
river, though small in its volume of water, and sluggish in 
fts course. The form of the town is circular; its streets are 
narrow and crooked; its houses are in general ill built, many 
of them being of wood ; 27 miles south-east of Lisle. 
• VALENS (Flavius), a Roman emperor. See Rome. 
VALENSOLLES, a small town in the south-east of 
France, in Provence, department of the Lower Alps ; 14 
miles south-east of Forcalquier, and 25 south-west of Digne. 
Population 3100. 
VALENTIA, an- island in the Atlantic, near the south¬ 
west coast of Ireland, about five miles in length, and two 
in breadth, with a village of the same name, separated 
from the county of Kerry by a strait scarcely a mile 
wide. It lies to the south of Dingle bay. Lat. 51. 52. N. 
long. 10. 11, W. 
VALENTIA HARBOUR, a bay of Ireland, on the east 
of Dingle bay, between the isle of Valentia and Dowlas 
Head. 
VALENTIA ISLAND, an island off the coast of Abys¬ 
sinia, about 25 miles long, and from 2 to 6 broad. 
VALENTINE, s. A sweetheart, chosen on Valentine’s 
day. 
Now all nature seem’d in love. 
And birds had drawn their valentines. Wottov , 
A letter sent by one young person to another on Valen¬ 
tine’s day; a billet doux. —Many allurements there are; 
nods, jests, winks,—tokens, favours, symbols, letters, valen¬ 
tines, &c. For which cause, belike, Godfridus would not 
have women learn to write ! Burton . 
VALENTINE, a small town in the south of France, 
on the Garonne, with 1000 inhabitants; 3 miles south- 
by-west of St. Gaudens, and 55 south-west of Toulouse. 
VALENTINE, a cape or point of land on the east coast 
of the straits of Magellan, between the bay of Papagayos 
and the point of Boqueron. 
VALENTINE’S BAY, a bay on the south-east coast 
of Terra del Fuego, to the west of Cape Success. 
VALENTINI (Michael Bernhard), a native of Giessen, 
in Germany, Where he was born in 1657, and became a 
medical professor, and where he died in 1729. The sub¬ 
jects of his writings, which are numerous, chiefly compre¬ 
hend botany and the materia medica: of these we shall here 
mention his “ Letters from the East Indies;” “ Praxis 
Medica,” in two parts; “Amphitheatrum Zootomicum,” 
fol. Haller. 
VALENTINI A [so named by Swartz, probably in ho¬ 
nour of Mich. Bernh. Valentini, professor of medicine at 
Giessen], in Botany, a genus of the class octandria, order 
monogynia. —Generic Character. Calyx : perianth one- 
leafed, spreading-, concave, coloured, five-parted ; segments 
obtuse, concave, entire. Corolla none, unless the calyx be 
taken for it. Stamina: filaments eight, awl-shaped, erect, a 
little shorter than the calyx ; anthers roundish. Pistil: germ 
roundish, superior; style length of the stamens, round, 
thick; stigma headed. Pericarp: capsule berried, rouudish, 
opening into three or four parts which afterwards roll back, 
one-cel led, pulpy within. Seeds four, oblong.— Essential 
Character. Calyx five-parted, coloured, spreading. Co¬ 
rolla none. Capsule berried, four-seeded, pulpy. 
Valentinia ilieifolia. — This is a branching shrub, two 
or three feet high. Leaves alternate, ovate-lanceolate, an 
inch and half long, waved and spiny at the edge, smooth 
and very stiff; flowers terminating in a sort of umbel, scarlet. 
—Native of Hispaniola, on the most barren rocks towards 
the ocean, and in Cuba about the Havanna. 
VALENTINO, a royal but now decayed castle, situated 
on the banks of the Po, in the vicinity of Turin, and 
surrounded by a number of villas, and by the botanical 
garden of the university of Turin. 
VALENZA, a town in the north-west of Italy, in the 
province of Alessandria, situated on an eminence near the 
Po; 12 miles south-east of Casale, and 40 east-by-south 
of Turin. 
VALENZA, a small town in the north-west of Spain, in 
the province of Leon, with 3700 inhabitants; 18 miles 
south-south-west of Leon. 
VALERA DE ARIBA, and VALERA DE ABAJO, 
two small towns or rather villages, in the east of Spain* 
in the province of Cuen 5 a ; 133 miles east-south-east of 
Madrid. 
VALE'RIAN, s. \yaleriana, Latin; valerian, Fr.] A 
plant. 
Valerian then he crops, and purposely doth stamp, 
T’ apply unto the place, that’s haled with the cramp. 
Drayton. 
VALERIANA [according to some, named from one 
Valerius, who is said to have used this plant in medicine: 
or as others, from valor or valentia, or from valere. But all 
this is uncertain], in Botany, a genus of the class triandria, 
order monogynia, natural order of aggregatae, dipsaceae 
(Juss.) —Generic Character. Calyx scarcely any ; a superior 
margin. Corolla : tube nectariferous on the lower side, gib¬ 
bous ; border five-cleft; segments obtuse. Stamina three 
or fewer, (in one species four;) filaments awl shaped, erect, 
length of the corolla; anthers roundish. Pistil: germ in¬ 
ferior; style filiform, length of the stamens; stigma thick- 
ish. Pericarp: a crust not opening, deciduous, crowned. 
Seeds solitary, oblong. A wonderful diversity of the parts of 
fructification is observed in this genus.— Essential Charac¬ 
ter. Calyx none. Corolla one-petalled, gibbous on one 
side of the base, superior. Seed one. 
I. —Valerians with a single downy Seed. 
1. Valeriana rubra, common or broad-leaved red vale¬ 
rian.— Flowers one-stamened, tailed; leaves lanceolate, 
quite entire. Roots perennial, woody, as thick as a man’s 
finger, spreading very wide; stems about three feet high, 
round, smooth, grayish, hollow.—Native of France, Switzer¬ 
land, Italy, the Levant, Barbary, and England. 
2. Valeriana angustifolia, or narrow-leaved red vale¬ 
rian.—Flowers one-stamened, tailed; leaves linear, quite 
entire.—Native of the mountains of France, Switzerland, 
Italy, and Barbary. 
3. Valeriana calcitrapa, or cut-leaved valerian. — Flow¬ 
ers one-stamened; leaves pinnatifid.—Native of the South of 
France, Italy, Portugal, the Levant, and Barbary. 
4. Valeriana dioica, or small marsh valerian. —Flowers 
three-stamened, dioecious; radical-leaves ovate; sttm-leavcs 
pinnate. Root perennial, jointed, creeping, the thickness 
of a crow-quill, white, but sometimes tinged with red ; 
stems from a span to a foot or a foot and a half in height, 
upright, grooved, smooth.—Native of Europe and the Le¬ 
vant, in wet meadows and marshes. 
5. Valeriana Capensis, or Cape valerian.—Flowers 
three-stamened; leaves pinnate; leaflets ovate, toothed.— 
Found at the Cape of Good Hope. 
6. Valeriana officinalis, officinal or great wild valerian.— 
Flowers three-stamened; all the leaves pinnate; leaflets 
lanceolate, nearly uniform. Root perennial, composed of 
long fleshy slender fibres, uniting in heads, and sending 
out from its crown one or more long-extended creeping 
shoots.—Native of Europe and Siberia, in woods, hedges, 
marshes, and near rivers. 
7. Valeriana phu, or garden valerian.—Flowers three- 
stamened; stem-leaves pinnate; root-leaves undivided.— 
Native of Alsace, Silesia, Dauphine, and Barbary near La 
Calle. - 
8. Valeriana tripteris, or three-leaved valerian.—Flow¬ 
ers three-stamened ; leaves toothed; root-leaves cordate; 
stem-leaves ternate, ovate-oblong.—Native of the Alps of 
Switzerland, Austria, Carniola, Dauphine, and Piedmont; 
flowering all the summer. There are besides in this section 
Valeriana montana, Valeriana celtica, Valeriana tuberosa, 
Valeriana saxatilis, Valeriana elongata, Valeriana pyrenaica, 
Valeriana scandeus, Valeriana mixta, and Valeriana supina. 
II. —With a three-celled crowned Fruit. 
18. Valeriana villosa, or hairy valerian.—Flowers four- 
stamened, equal; lower leaves eared ; upper toothed, villose. 
—Native 
