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Show OFFICINAL VALERIAN. 35 marshes and shady places its leaves are broader, on dry heat hs and high past ures they are narrower. The roots produced in low waterygrounds have a remark ably faint smell in comparison of the others, and sometimes scarcely any. The roots taken up in autumn or winter have also much stronger sensible qualitie s than those collected in spring and summer, The root consists of a number ofst rings or fibres matted to. gether, issuing from one com mon head, of a whitish or pale brownishcolour, Its smell is strong, like a mix ture of aromatics with fetids; the taste unpleasantly warm, bitterish, and subacrid, Neumann got from 480 grains of the dry root 186 alcoholic and 74 watery extract; and inversely, 261 watery and 5 alco. holic. The distilled alcohol was slightly, the water stro ngly, e Sea impregnated with the smell of the Valerian, but no separable oil was obtained. OFFICINAL VALERIAN,E.P. VALERIANA OFFICINALIS, P.E. MEDICINAL USE, Wild Valerian is a medici ne of great use in nervou s disorders, andis particularly servic eable in epilepsies procee din g from a debility of the nervous system. Some recommend it as pro.~ curing sleep, particularly in fever, even when opi umf ail s ; but it is principal WILD VALERIAN, L.P. VALERIANA SYLVESTRIS, P. L. ly useful in affections of the hys Class 111. Triandria. Order I. Monogynia. Essent. Gen. Cuan. Calyx none: Corolla monopetalous, gibbous on o e side at the hase, above. Spec. Cuan. } = ne Sait Flowers bearing " i three stamina: ina: Leaves Jes a Pp innate, coeee DESCRIPTION. Tus plant grows to three feet or more in height ; its leaves stand in pairs, and are large, hairy, and of a dusky green, di- vided down to the middle rib, so as to appear to be made up of manysmall leaves affixed on the two sides of a stalk, or may be said to be pinnate: the flowers stand in large tufts at the tops of the branches, and are of a pale whitish red colour: some of the species vary in the number of stamina, and are succeeded eachby a single seed winged with down. HISTORY. This plant is perennial, andvaries in its appearance and ae ble qualities, according to the situation in which it grows. In terical kind, The common dose is fro m a scruple to a drachm in powder ; and in infusion, from one to two drachms, Its unp lea sant flavour is most effectually concealed by a suitable addition of mace, As its virtues reside entirely in an essentia l oil, it should not be exhibited in decoction or watery extract, So far the Edinburgh Dispen satory, Valerian is supposed to be the g8, Phu, of Diosco rides and the ancients, from the Gre ck word gv, abominabl e, on account of its horrid smell ; although so extremely agreeable to cats, that the labels in apothe caries’ shops are Scratc hed off by them; and it is said also to attrac t the rat, Fabius Columaa, an Italian nobleman, eng aged in political affairs, had an epilep sy from his birth, whi ch the physicians were unable to cure, Being entirely worn out with the dis. e€ y of the ancient botanical writers, and hat it was cured by the Valerian root, nce he began the tria l, and was soon completely restor He became a famous bot ed, anical writer, illustrating his work. DZ |