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Summary

Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) is an herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Caprifoliaceae, native to Europe and southwestern Asia. It is the type species of the genus Valeriana.

Description

Flowerhead and leaves

It grows up to 1.5 m (5 ft) tall, rarely to 2 m (7 ft). The stems are erect, usually unbranched, with pinnately divided leaves up to 20 cm long, the leaflets with irregularly toothed to toothless margins. The flowers are produced from June to August, and are 2.5–5 mm diameter with a five-lobed corolla, sweetly scented, pale pink, occasionally white, grouped in both compound and secondary clusters.

Subspecies

Three subspecies are accepted by the Plants of the World Online (POWO) database:

Valeriana officinalis subsp. officinalis – throughout most of the range Valeriana officinalis subsp. nemorensis (B.Turk) F.Martini & Soldano – Italy, northwest Balkans Valeriana officinalis subsp. tenuifolia (Vahl) Schübl. & G.Martens – central and northern Europe

Two other subspecies, not distinguished by POWO, are accepted by some other authors:

Valeriana officinalis subsp. collina – on dry chalk soils Valeriana officinalis subsp. sambucifolia – on wetter marshy sites

Distribution and habitat

It is native from Iceland south to Portugal, north to central Scandinavia, east to European Russia, and southeast to Iran. The plant is typically found in wet and dry meadows, wet woodlands, and marshes; plants adapted to drier chalk grassland soils are sometimes distinguished as V. o. subsp. collina.