Standardized Common
Name: Valerian
Other Common Names: All Heal, Belgian
Valerian, Cat’s Valerian, Common Valerian, Garden Heliotrope, Garden Valerian,
Phu, Wild Valerian
Family: Valerianaceae
Taxonomy: Valeriana
includes about 200 species of shrubs and herbs, widely distributed in the
Northern Hemisphere, of which many have been used medicinally. Valeriana
officinalis is one of about 20 species native to Europe. There are dozens
of marginally different populations that have at some point been described as
species. The Flora Europaea treatment recognizes three subspecies, all
widespread: subsp. sambucifolia (J.C. Mikan ex Pohl) Čelak and V.
officinalis subsp. collina (Wallr.) Nyman often possess stolons,
whereas subsp. officinalis does not.
Description: Perennial herb,
rhizomatous and sometimes stoloniferous; rhizome to 5 cm long, thick, vertical,
with numerous roots on lower portion. Stem erect, hollow, to 1.5 m high,
branching at top, sometimes pubescent at base and below nodes. Leaves basal and
opposite, pinnately compound; lower leaves with long clasping petioles, upper
leaves sessile; leaflets (3–)7–25, sessile, opposite or alternate on rachis,
lanceolate to elliptical or nearly linear, 2–7 cm long; bases often rounded and
slightly oblique, apices acuminate, margins irregularly toothed or entire;
rachis and underside of blades pubescent on lower leaves. Inflorescence cymose,
compound, many-flowered, bracteate; flowers small, borne in groups of 3. Calyx
with inrolled lobes that unfold at fruiting to produce bristles; corolla pink,
2.5–5 mm long, narrowly funnelform with 5 spreading lobes; stamens 3, the
filaments attached basally to the corolla; stigma 3-lobed; ovary inferior.
Fruit an achenelike cypsela, ca. 4 mm long, 1-seeded, compressed; flat side
with 1 rib, rounded side with 3 ribs.
Parts
in Commerce:
Rhizome with roots and with stolons if present
Identification:
Rhizome
- Vertical, small;
2–5 cm long, 1–3 cm thick, cylindrical or tapering in overall shape, not
branching
- Outside
irregular and rough, yellowish to grayish or dark brown
- Inside brownish
or grayish-white
- Apex usually
with cup-shaped scar, or with remains of stem
- Numerous roots
growing from all sides, sometimes stolons from the upper part; no tubers
present
- In
cross-section, consists of narrow bark; starchy cortex containing random
vascular bundles to leaves or roots; endodermis; ring of vascular bundles;
large starchy pith with clusters of stone cells
- Pith may be
hollow; in longitudinal section, multiple hollow spaces may be separated
by septa
- Fracture horny
- Odor strong upon
drying, characteristic, unpleasant
- Taste
camphoraceous, slightly bitter
Roots
- Numerous,
slender, to >10 cm long
- Brown to
yellowish or grayish brown outside, mostly yellowish brown inside
- Brittle and
shrivelled upon drying
- In
cross-section, consists of 1–2 layers of cork or epidermis; 2–4 layers of
resin-containing cells; cortex of starch-containing parenchyma that
occupies most of root volume; small vascular cylinder with vessels in an
interrupted circle; small “pith” at center
Stolons
- Absent in ssp. officinalis
- Dull
yellowish-gray color outside
- Nodes prominent;
internodes 2–5 cm long
- Fracture fibrous
Adulterants: Valeriana dioica
L., V. edulis ssp. procera (Kunth) F.G. Mey. (Mexican Valerian,)
V. phu L., and V. jatamansi Jones (Indian Valerian, often called V.
wallichii DC.) are among the species that are used medicinally and may be
substituted for V. officinalis. Veratrum species, Scabiosus
species, unspecified Ranunculaceae, and Cypripedium macranthon Sw. have
also been reported as adulterants in older literature, but these are unlikely
to be found today. Characteristics that may be found in the rhizomes of
substitutes include:
- Longer than
expected, or elongated and with roots growing along only one side,
indicating that it lay horizontally
- Smaller than
expected (although tiny rhizomes may be found in the genuine article, from
new plants growing at the nodes of stolons)
- Odor in dried
material weak, pleasant, or lacking
- Surface not
rough
- Fracture
brittle, inside white
- Fractured
surface bluish or black
- Many layers of
cork present
References:
Evstatieva LN, Handjieva NV, Popov SS, Pashankov PI.
A biosystematic study of Valeriana officinalis (Valerianaceae)
distributed in Bulgaria. Pl Syst Evol. 1993;185:167–179.
Ockendon DJ. Valeriana. In: Tutin TG, Heywood VH, Burges NA, et al.,
eds. Flora Europaea. Vol. 4. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press; 1976:52–55.
Wichtl M, ed. Herbal Drugs and Phytopharmaceuticals, 3rd English ed. Stuttgart:
medpharm Scientific Publishers and Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press; 2004:630–634.
Woerdenbag HJ. Valerian: Quality assurance of the
crude drug and its preparations. In: Houghton PJ, ed. Valerian, the Genus Valeriana.
Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers; 1997:101–128. Medicinal and Aromatic
Plants—Industrial Profiles, vol. 1.
World Health
Organization. WHO Monographs on Selected Medicinal Plants. Vol. 1 Geneva: World Health Organization;
1999–2002:267–276.
Youngken HW. Text-Book of Pharmacognosy, 5th ed. Philadelphia, PA: The
Blakiston Company; 1943:853–856.
