Flora Medica

VALERIANACEJE.form of a rounded thickened rim. Corolla white, funnel-shapedsmooth : the tube gibbous at the base on that side of the flower turnedaway from the axis, hairy internally limb : spreading, divided into 5nearly equal, concave, linear, rounded lobes. Stamens 3, exserted,white, from the middle of the tube of the corolla. Ovary inferior,narrow-oblong, compressed, 1-celled, with a single pendulous ovule :style filiform : stigma divided into 3 filiform lobes. Fruit light brown,linear-ovate, compressed, with a slightly elevated ridge on one side,terminated by the permanent calyx, whose limb has unrolled into 12filiform plumose recurved segments, crowning it like pappus. Thearomatic or rather fetid roots are stimulant, not only acting upon thesecretions, but producing a specific influence over the cerebro-spinalsystem, bringing on, as is well known, a kind of intoxication in cats,and in large doses occasioning in man scintillations, agitation, and evenconvulsions. It is chiefly employed in asthenic fevers, epilepsy, chorea,hysteria, and as an anthelmintic.965. V. Dioscoridis Fl. Grac. i. 24. t. 33. *ov, Dioscorides.Near Limysus, a river of Lycia.Root of several, fleshy,fusiform tubers, with an aromatic pepperysmell, almost like that of Valeriana officinalis, but less unpleasant.All the herbage smooth. Stem erect, annual, 2 feet high, simple, leafy,taper, hollow. Radical leaves numerous, petiolate, lyrate, pinnated ;the leaflets opposite, sessile, ovate, with spreading teeth, and veiny:the odd one very large. Stem leaves few, opposite, sessile, pinnated;the leaflets nearly equal, lanceolate, unequally toothed. Cyme terminal,trichotomous, many-flowered, thyrsoid. Bracts lanceolate, acuminate.Flowers flesh-coloured. Corolla funnel-shaped, not spurred, with anearly regular limb. Stamens 3, equal. Anthers yellowish. Stigmasimple. Fruit keeled on the outside, 3-ribbed on the inside, ratherdowny, with a radiant feathery pappus. Smith. According to Sibthorpthis is the real Phu of Dioscorides, and therefore the most powerful ofthe Valerians, for which V. officinalis is to be merely considered thenorthern substitute. De Candolle refers the species to V. sisymbriifoliaof Desfontaines, an oriental plant ;but the synonymy does not appearto be certain, and the former learned Botanist was not personallyacquainted with the subject.966. V. Hardwickii Wall in Roxb. Fl. Ind. i. 166. As. Research,vi. 350. DC. prodr. iv. 640. Mountains in the northof India.Pubescent, erect. Stem striated. Radical leaves numerous, longstalked,ovate-cordate, acute, unequally sinuated; cauline sessile,remote, pinnatifid. Corymbs becoming long and panicled; pedicelsdichotomous. Stamens enclosed. Fruit ovate, downy. DC. Thethick, fleshy, strong scented root is used in medicine in Nepal and theNorth of India. Royle's lecture, 82.472