VALERIAN, the type genus of Vase rianacem; an order of herbs of rarely shrubs belonging to the division of mono petalous dicotyledons having the sta mens arising from the petals. The order is distinguished from its congeners by the opposite leaves; small irregular flow ers in which the corolla lobes are imbri cate; stamens, one to three or five, free; ovary one to three celled, one cell one ovuled; ovule pendulous; seeds exalbumi nous. It contains 12 genera and about 190 species, distributed through Europe, northern Africa, temperate Asia, and northwestern America — unknown in Australia, and only one species south African. The properties are aromatic, antispasmodic, sometimes stimulant. The genus Valerians numbers 130 species. Of these, V. offieinalis, ranging across northern and central Europe and Asia to Japan, is a common British plant. Its rootstock has long been valued as an antispasmodic, and is successfully em ployed in hysteria. It has a penetrating
odor, and a bitter, acrid, somewhat aro matic taste; when distilled with water it yields a volatile oil and valerianic acid. Cats have a strange liking for the odor, and it exercises a remarkable intoxicat ing or stimulating power over them; the plant is sometimes called cats' valerian. The roots of V. celtica are used by East ern nations as a substitute for spikenard for aromatizing their baths, and those of V. edulis as an article of food by the Indians of northwestern America. The red valerian (V. pyrenaica), a native of southern France and Spain, has become naturalized in parts of Great Britain, and several other species are commonly grown in gardens. The word valerian is from Latin valere, "to heal," and one of the names of V. officinalis is "all-heal."