VALERIANA rubra.
lie d Valerian.
TRIANDRIA Motiogynia.
G en. Char. Cal. none. Cor. of 1 petal, superior,
gibbous on one side at the base. Seed one.
Spec. Char. Stamen one. F lowe rs spurred. L eaves
lanceolate, nearly entire.
Syn. Valeriana rubra. Linn. Sp. P L 44. Sm. FI.
B rit. 37. Huds. 12 . With. 65. Hull. 10.
Relh. 16. Sibth. 20.
V . rubra Dodonasi. Ger. em. 678,
R a y has omitted the Red Valerian, probably thinking it an
outcast of gardens where it is very common. We were of the
same opinion till we observed it very abundant, and to all
appearance certainly wild, in the chalk-pits of Kent. On old
buildings it is frequent. The annexed specimen was taken
from that magnificent ruin the Abbot’s kitchen at Glastonbury.
It is a perennial plant, and flowers copiously throughout the
summer. The whole herbage is perfectly smooth. Stems
numerous, round, slightly branched, leafy, a foot and half
high. Leaves somewhat glaucous, rather succulent, turning
yellow when dried; the lower ones lanceolate and entire; the
upper ones sessile, ovate, pointed, sometimes toothed at theiF
broadest part. Flowers numerous, erect, in a dense, terminal,
compound corymbus, with a pair of small bracteae to each
flower-stalk. Corolla slender, with a lateral spur, elegant,
rose-coloured, rarely white; the margin 5-cleft and irregular.
Stamen but one, with a . large, prominent, dark anthera.
Stigma rather obtuse. Seed with an involute feathery crown,
which unrolls as it ripens.
T h e ro o t p a r ta k e s o f th e n au s e o u s a rom a tic fla v o u r o f its
g e n u s , b u t is n o t u sed in m e d ic in e .