Valeriana occidentalis

Valeriana occidentalis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Dipsacales
Family: Caprifoliaceae
Genus: Valeriana
Species: V. occidentalis
Binomial name
Valeriana occidentalis
A.Heller

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.

Distribution

Valeriana occidentalis is found in the USA 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.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/19/2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.