Love, Sleep, Purification, Protection
Habitat: Found in many damp places such as low-lying meadows and woods, about the banks of rivers and lakes, and in marshy, swampy ground generally.
Features ? A handsome plant, growing from two to four feet and more high, whose stalks are round, thick, furrowed, and of a pale greenish colour. The leaves are pinnate with lance-shaped leaflets, growing opposite each other from the stem. The pink-white flowers (June to August) blossom in large tufts at the stalk head. A sweetish, disagreeable taste and unpleasant characteristic odour are given from the short, thick, greyish, many-fibred rootstock, which is the part used medicinally.Action: Nervine and antispasmodic.
Valerian promotes sleep and is much valued in hysteria, neuralgia and nervous debility, especially when combined with Scullcap, Mistletoe and Vervain. An infusion of 1 ounce to 1 pint of boiling water is taken in wineglass doses three or four times daily. Larger doses should not be taken.FAMILY: Valerianaceae
SYNONYMS: V. officinalis, V. officinalis var. angustifolium, V. officinalis var. latifolia, European valerian, common valerian, Belgian valerian, fragrant valerian, garden valerian.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: A perennial herb up to 1.5 metres high with a hollow, erect stem, deeply dissected dark leaves and many purplishwhite flowers. It has short, thick, greyish roots, largely showing above ground, which have a strong odour.
DISTRIBUTION: Native to Europe and parts of Asia; naturalized in North America. It is mainly cultivated in Belgium for its oil, also in France, Holland, England, Scandinavia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, China and the USSR.
OTHER SPECIES: There are over 150 species of valerian found in different parts of the world. The Eastern varieties are slightly different from the Western types: the oil from the Japanese plant called ‘kesso root’ (V. officinalis) is more woody; the oil from the Indian valerian (V. wallichii) is more musky. Also closely related to spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi) – see entry.
HERBAL/FOLK TRADITION: This herb has been highly esteemed since medieval times, and used to be called ‘all heal’. It has been used in the West for a variety of complaints, especially where there is nervous tension or restlessness, such as insomnia, migraine, dysmenorrhoea, intestinal colic, rheumatism, and as a pain reliever.
On the Continent the oil has been used for cholera, epilepsy and for skin complaints. In China it is used for backache, colds, menstrual problems, bruises and sores. The root is current in the British Herbal Pharmacopoeia as a specific for ‘conditions presenting nervous excitability’. .
ACTIONS: Anodyne (mild), antidandruff, diuretic, antispasmodic, bactericidal, carminative, depressant of the central nervous system, hypnotic, hypotensive, regulator, sedative, stomachic.
EXTRACTION: 1. Essential oil by steam distillation from the rhizomes. 2. An absolute (and concrete) by solvent extraction of the rhizomes.
CHARACTERISTICS: 1. An olive to brown liquid (darkening with age) with a warm woody, balsamic, musky odour; a green topnote in fresh oils. 2. An olive-brown viscous liquid with a balsamic-green, woody, bitter-sweet strong odour. It blends well with patchouli, costus, oakmoss, pine, lavender, cedarwood, mandarin, petitgrain and rosemary.
PRINCIPAL CONSTITUENTS: Mainly bornyl acetate and isovalerate, with caryophyllene, pinenes, valeranone, ionone, eugenyl isovalerate, borneol, patchouli alcohol and valerianol, among others.
SAFETY DATA: Non-toxic, non-irritant, possible sensitization. Use in moderation.
AROMATHERAPY/HOME: USE
Nervous system: Insomnia, nervous indigestion, migraine, restlessness and tension states.
OTHER USES: Used in pharmaceutical preparations as a relaxant and in herbal teas. The oil and absolute are used as fragrance components in soaps and in ‘moss’ and ‘forest’ fragrances. Used to flavour tobacco, root beer, liqueurs and apple flavourings.
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