Valeriana jatamansi is a small perennial rhizomatous herb of the Himalayas and neighbouring regions, grown mainly for its medicinal rhizomes used in Ayurvedic and Unani medicine. It is cultivated as a medicinal crop rather than as an ornamental, and is best grown in cool, moist, well-drained conditions.
Family
Caprifoliaceae (Honeysuckle family)
Grows as
Bulb
Light
Part shade
Water
Keep the soil evenly moist during the growing season and reduce watering in winter.
Soil
Rich, well-drained, humus-rich loam
Temperature
10–24 °C; protect from hard frost
How easy
Moderate
Native range
E. Afghanistan to C. & EC. China and N. Indo-China
Climate
temperate
About
Valeriana jatamansi, formerly known as Valeriana wallichii, is a rhizome herb of the genus Valeriana and the family Valerianaceae also called Indian Valerian or Tagar-Ganthoda, not to be confused with ganthoda, the root of Indian long pepper. It is an herb useful in Ayurvedic medicine used as an analeptic, antispasmodic, carminative, sedative, stimulant, stomachic, and nervine.
The genus Valeriana, with about 200 species, belongs to the family Valerianaceae and has a distribution throughout the world. The Indian Valerian has long been used in Ayurveda (Charak Samhita and Susruta) and Unani systems of medicine, which describe its use in obesity, skin disease, insanity, epilepsy and snake poisoning. The crude drugs from roots/ rhizomes and Valerian derived phytomedicines are used as mild sedatives in pharmaceutical industry.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Valeriana jatamansi by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.