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(Last Modified On 7/10/2013)
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(Last Modified On 7/10/2013)
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Genus
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Valeriana L.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Sp. P1. 31. 1753
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Note
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TYPE: V. officinalis L.
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Synonym
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Amplophus Raf., Aut. Bot. 89. 1840. Based on V. scandens L.
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Description
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Erect, sometimes voluble or clambering herbs, rarely shrubs, characteristically foetid when dry, with creeping rhizomes or subnapiform taproots; stems subsca- pose or leafy, fistulose, terete or occasionally more or less quadrangular. Leaves decussate, basal and cauline, spatulate and undivided or pinnate to pinnatifid or rarely bipinnatifid, often imparipinnate, rarely ternate, frequently more or less decurrent on the subpetiolar and more or less clasping-patelliform base, serrate, crenate, dentate, repand or entire, membranous to firm, glabrous or short-pubes- cent, glands and stipules absent. Inflorescences determinate, aggregate-dichasial and thyrsoid or cymose, compound, dense and more or less scorpioid, many- flowered, terminal or sometimes axillary, pyramidal or corymbiform, the cymes more or less flat topped, bracteate and bracteolate. Flowers white, rarely yellow, hermaphroditic, gynodioecious or polygamodioecious, epigynous, irregular or nearly regular in unisexual flowers; calyx initially involute, later spreading, the sessile limb concrescent and short-patelliform, hyaline and membranous, becoming setose in mid-plane, the setae plumose, or the limb short-cupuliform and more or less irregularly toothed or lobed; corolla infundibuliform, subcampanulate or ro- tate, the tube gibbous or straight, usually more or less hairy on the throat, the 5 lobes equal or subequal; stamens 3, rarely 4, adnate on the throat, the anthers essentially sessile and included, or filamentous and exserted, alternate with the corolla lobes, the anthers 4-loculate, introrse, 2-lobed, the tbecae more or less lunate and opposed, the 4 locules equal in length, or 4-lobed, the thecae sulcate, the ventral locules longer than the dorsal and parallel; ovary inferior, basically 3-carpellate, maturing 1 fertile adaxial carpel, the ovule 1, pendulous, anatropous, exalbuminous, the raphe ventral and united, vestigial abaxial carpels 2, the style 1, the stigma 3-lobed, included or exserted. Fruits cypselate achenes, adaxial veins 3, 1 median, 2 peripheral, abaxial veins 3, oriented more or less in the median plane.
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Habit
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herbs
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Distribution
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Valeriana includes about 250 species. Most species occur in the north tem- perate zone. There is also a concentration of species in South America-prin- cipally in the Andean region, with a smaller concentration in southeastern Brazil- and in Europe and the Middle East.
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Note
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The salient taxonomic characters of the genus are in the structure of the inflorescence and the monocarpellate achenes with an epigynous plumose or short-cupuliform calyx limb. Economic attributes occur in the roots of various taxa. Valeriana officinalis L., the type species, has been used for nervousness, suffocation, asphyxiation, mi- graine, menopause, fevers, and parasites. Among New World taxa, the Mexican species, V. pratensis (Benth.) Steud. is known to be used medicinally, and others are probably used locally. The roots when dry emit a characteristic pungent or foetid odor, a trait found in many members of the genus. The odor persists in- definitely in herbarium specimens.
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Reference
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Meyer, F. G. 1951. Valeriana in North America and the West Indies (Valeri- anaceae). Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 38: 377-503.
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Key
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a. Stems voluble; inflorescences axillary; stamens included; corolla 0.5-3.0 mm long. b. Leaves ternate ...... 3a. V. scandens var. scandens bb. Leaves undivided ...... 3b. V. scandens var. candolleana aa. Stems erect or clambering; inflorescences terminal; stamens exserted; corolla 2.3-6.0 mm long; leaves simple or imparipinnate. c. Leaves simple; inflorescence diffuse in anthesis; perfect flowers 1.8-5.5 mm long; rhizomatous or with subnapiform roots. d. Plants robust, sometimes clambering; leaves longer than wide, elliptic to ovate or suborbicular, acute to acuminate, entire to slightly dentate; inflorescences often widely spreading, pilosulous throughout; rhizomatous ...... 1. V. clematitis dd. Plants slender, erect; leaves mostly ovate and truncate at the base, serrate to crenate; inflorescences less diffuse with ascending branches, glabrous; taproot subnapiform ...... 4. V. urticaefolia cc. Leaves imparipinnate; inflorescence subcapitate in anthesis; perfect flowers con- sistently larger, 4-6 mm long; taproot thickened, often fasciculate, more or less fusiform ...... 2. V. puilchella
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