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Western Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Western Valerian
Valeriana occidentalis A. Heller

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: Valerian (Valerianaceae)
Flowering: May-September
Field Marks: The distinguishing features of this species are the pinnate opposite leaves and the tuft of white hairs at the nodes on the stem.
Habitat: Wet meadows, moist soil.
Habit: Perennial herb from rhizomes.
Stems: Upright, up to 2 1/2 feet tall, smooth or nearly so except for a tuft of white hairs at the nodes.
Leaves: Basal and opposite on the stem, simple or pinnately divided into as many as 13 segments, oblong to narrowly ovate, smooth or nearly so.
Flowers: Several crowded in a terminal cyme, the cyme up to 2 1/2 inches long; bracts up to 1/4 inch long.
Sepals: Nearly absent and inconspicuous in flower, developing into as many as 16 plume-like bristles during fruiting.
Petals: 5, white, united below, 1/8-1/6 inch long.
Stamens: 3, attached to the petals.
Pistils: Ovary inferior.
Fruits: Achenes linear to narrowly oblong, tan, up to 1/4 inch long, with plumose bristles at the top.
Notes: The leaves and stems are browsed by deer and elk.

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Page Last Modified: Saturday, 02-Feb-2013 06:26:49 EST
Menlo Park, CA [caww54]