Flora Medica

VALERIANACEJE.Nat. syst. ed. 2. p. 265.NARDOSTACHYS.Limb of calyx 5-parted, lobes ovate-oblong, acute, leafy, somewhattoothed, permanent. Corolla regular, ecalcarate, obtusely5-lobed, bearded in the throat. Stamens 4, attached to thebottom of the corolla. Stigma capitate. Capsule 3-celled,crowned by the lobes of the calyx, and almost shorter than theyare, not adnate to a bract. DC.963. N. Jatamansi DC. coll. mem. vii. t. 1. iv. prodr. 624.Roykillustr. 243. t. 54. Valeriana Jatamansi Jones in as. res.ii. 405. iv. 109. Don in Lamb, cinch. 180. ic. V. SpicaVahl. enum. ii. 13. Patrinia Jatamansi Don prodr. nep. 159.NapSoe tvSiKri, Dioscorides. On the mountains of the north ofIndia, at considerable heights.(Spikenard.)A dwarf herbaceous plant with a long hairy tap root. Stems perennial,very short, simply divided into a number of shaggy scaly crowns fromwhich the leaves proceed. Branches erect, a few inches high, downy.Leaves obovate-lanceolate, 3-ribbed, downy; those next the root acute,the upper ones obtuse. Flowers pale pink, clustered in the axils ofthe upper leaves, which form a kind of involucre to them. This, thetrue spikenard of the ancients, has been highly esteemed not only as aperfume, but as a stimulant medicine. Oriental writers it give as aremedy for a multitude of diseases, and it appears really to be valuablein hysteria and epilepsy.VALERIANA.Limb of the calyx rolled up during flowering, then unrolledinto a deciduous feathery pappus, consisting of many plumosesetae. Corolla obconical or cylindrical, equal at the base orbut without a spur ;limb bluntly 5-cleft, rarely 3-fid.fibbous, tamens 3. Fruit indehiscent ;when ripe 1 -celled, 1 -seeded.964. V. officinalis, Linn. sp. 45. Eng. Bot. t. 698. Fl. Lond.t. 5. Woodv. t. 96. Smith Eng. FL i. 43. DC. prodr.iv. 641. Wet places all over Europe, or even in dry pastures.(Common Valerian.)Root tuberous, somewhat creeping, fetid, most aromatic when growingin dry pastures. Stem about 4 feet high, furrowed. Leaves pinnate ;coarsely serrated, broadest, approachingleaflets those of the radical leavesto ovate. Panicles cymose, contracted. Bracteolae ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, herbaceous, membranous at the edge, appressed,rather longer than the ovary. Calyx superior, rolled inwards in the471 H H 4