





~t 
o 
ACCOMMODATING DISPOSITION, 
RED VALERIAN. 
Tux red flowered valerian has but recently 
been introduced into our gardens from the 
Alpine rocks, where it grows naturally. Its 
appearance is showy, but always disordered. 
In its cultivated state it still has the bearing of 
a rustic, which imparts to it somewhat of the 
air of a parvenu; notwithstanding, this wild 
beauty owes its fortune to its merit. Its root 
is an excellent remedy for those diseases which 
produce weakness ; an infusion of it strengthens 
the sight, re-animates the spirits, and drives 
away melancholy. It continues in flower nearly 
the whole year, and is much improved by cul- 
tivation, though it never disdains its wild 
origin, but often quits our borders to deck the 
sides of a barren hill, or to climb over old and 
ruined walls. The valerians of our woods and 
our fields possess greater medicinal virtues and 
as much beauty as this emblem of an accom- 
modating disposition; but they are neglected 
by the florist because they yield not so grace- 
fully to his training hand as that derived from 
the Alps. It is difficult to say whence it 
derives the name of valerian; Linneeus supposes 
it to be named after a certain king, Valerius, 
whilst De Théis thinks it altered from the verb 
valere (to heal), on account of its medicinal 
qualities, 
