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Valeriana occidentalis
Also called Small Flower Valerian, Western Valeriana
Valeriana occidentalis is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family known by the common name western valerian. It is native to the western United States, particularly the northwestern quadrant, but it occurs as far south as Arizona and as far east as Colorado and South Dakota. It occurs in moist, forested mountain habitat. It is an erect herb growing 30 to 75 centimeters tall with whorls or opposite pairs of leaves at intervals along stem. The leaves are generally divided into lobes or are compound, with each leaf made up of a few oval-shaped leaflets. The inflorescence is a dense cyme of many funnel-shaped white flowers each 3 or 4 millimeters long with three long, protruding stamens. The fruit is a ribbed achene about half a centimeter long which may be tipped with the featherlike remains of the flower sepals.
Valeriana occidentalis is found in the US in the following states: AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, OR, SD, UT, WA, WY. It is also found in British Columbia, Canada. A map of its distribution can be found on the USDA Plants Site.
Valeriana alypifolia · Valeriana aretioides · Arizona valerian · Valeriana asterothrix · Valeriana buxifolia · California valerian · Celtic Spikenard · Valeriana ceratophylla · Valeriana cernua · Valeriana coleophylla · Marsh valerian · Tobacco root
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Valeriana occidentalis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
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.
