Other names used for this plant include garden valerian (to distinguish it from other Valeriana species), garden heliotrope (although not related to Heliotropium), setwall and all-heal (which is also used for plants in the genus Stachys). The name of the herb is derived from the personal name Valeria and the Latin verb valere (to be strong, healthy). The green herb being bruised and applied to the head taketh away pain and pricking thereof." Etymology and common names Also, it is of special value against the plague, the decoction thereof being drunk and the root smelled. He recommended both herb and root, and said that "the root boiled with liquorice, raisons and aniseed is good for those troubled with cough. The 17th century astrological botanist Nicholas Culpeper thought the plant was "under the influence of Mercury, and therefore hath a warming faculty". He says that the dried root was valued as a medicine by the poor in the north of England and the south of Scotland, such that "no brothes, pottages or phisicalle meates are woorth anything if Setwall were not at one end". John Gerard's Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes, first published in 1597, states that his contemporaries found valerian "excellent for those burdened and for such as be troubled with croup and other like convulsions, and also for those that are bruised with falls". In the 16th century, Pilgram Marpeck prescribed valerian tea for a sick woman. In medieval Sweden, it was sometimes placed in the wedding clothes of the groom to ward off the "envy" of the elves. Hippocrates described its properties, and Galen later prescribed it as a remedy for insomnia. Valerian has been used as a herb in traditional medicine since at least the time of ancient Greece and Rome. Its roots and leaves cause a catnip-like response in cats. It is consumed as food by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species, including the grey pug.Ĭrude extract of valerian root may have sedative and anxiolytic effects, and is commonly sold in dietary supplement capsules to promote sleep, but clinical evidence that it is effective for this purpose is weak or inconclusive as yet. In the summer when the mature plant may have a height of 1.5 metres (5 feet), it bears sweetly scented pink or white flowers that attract many fly species, especially hoverflies of the genus Eristalis. Valerian ( Valeriana officinalis, Caprifoliaceae) is a perennial flowering plant native to Europe and Asia.
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