Valerians & Cornsalads
Honeysuckle Family - Caprifoliaceae
Red Valerian Valeriana rubra(Centranthus ruber) Native to the Mediterranean Region. Often colonises old walls and ruin sites.
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Italian Valerian Valeriana italica
(Valeriana dioscoridis) Native to the Aegean and Black Sea area. Frequent in grassy and rocky places.
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Annual Valerian Valeriana calcitrapae
Native to Macaronesia and throughout the Mediterranean Region. Frequent in grassy and rocky places.
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Crowned Cornsalad Valeriana coronata
(Valerianella coronata) Native throughout southern and eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Region, eastwards to Central Asia. Main calyx lobes usually 6, sometimes with smaller lobes inbetween; not ciliate. Interior of calyx cup glabrous. Fruiting calyx more or less symmetrical. Fruits not horned and all similar.
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Disc-fruited Cornsalad Valeriana discoidea
(Valerianella discoidea) Native throughout the Mediterranean Region to the Middle East and Arabian Peninsula. Main calyx lobes usually 6, sometimes with smaller lobes inbetween; not ciliate. Interior of calyx cup downy. Fruiting calyx more or less symmetrical. Fruits not horned and all similar.
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Common Cornsalad Valeriana locusta
(Valerianella locusta) Native throughout Europe to the Caucasus and North-west Africa. A small plant, typically ranging from 2-40cm in height, with a many-branched cluster of flowering stems that are rather soft and succulent. Flowers with five petals, fused together towards the base, white, or with a pale blue or pinkish flush to them. Ripe fruits 1.8-2.5mm long, rotund in one plane, flattened in the other, hairless or lightly hairy, smooth or with a vertical wrinkle.
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Keel-fruited Cornsalad Valeriana carinata
(Valerianella carinata) Native throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Region, eastwards to the Caucasus and Iran. Fruiting calyx assymetrical, minute. Ripe fruits 2.0-2.7mm long, distinctly oblong in outline (clearly longer than wide), hairless or lightly hairy, smooth or with a vertical wrinkle.
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Turgid Cornsalad Valeriana turgida
Native from Italy eastwards through the Balkans and eastern Europe to the Caucasus and Very similar to Keel-fruited Cornsalad but fruits about as broad as wide and with spongy tissue blocks accompanying the fruits.
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Spiny-fruited Cornsalad Valeriana echinata
(Valerianella echinata) Native throughout the Mediterranean Region and eastwards to Iran.
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Narrow-fruited Cornsalad Valeriana dentata
(Valerianella dentata) Native throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Region, eastwards to Central Asia. Fruiting calyx asymmetrical, forming a triangular tooth, shorter and narrower than the fruit. Fruits 1.5-2mm long, hairy.
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Small-fruited Cornsalad Valerianella abyssinica
(Valerianella microcarpa) Native throughout most of the Mediterranean Region, Macaronesia and into East Africa. Very similar to Narrow-fruited Cornsalad but the fruits are no more than 1.2mm long and are densely covered in hooked hairs.
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Valerian Family - Verbenaceae
Common Vervain Verbena officinalisNative from Europe and the Mediterranean Region, southward through Africa and eastward to China and south to Australia. Plants are very variable, from 10cm to 80cm in height and have thin, wiry stems that are easily overlooked except on the largest of plants. Lower leaves are deeply lobed but upper leaves are smaller and may be toothed on the edges but not lobed. Flowers appear a few at a time on spikes that progressively elongate throughout the flowering season.
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