Valeriana sitchensis ssp. sitchensis
Sitka Valerian

Family: Valerianaceae (Valerian family)

Photo taken at Stevens Pass, open moist slope at 4400 ft. elevation

Flowers:

inflorescence a terminal cyme; corolla 5 to 8 mm, white or pinkish

Fruit:

more or less 4 mm

Leaves:

mostly cauline; blade 4 to 30 cm; leaflets lobed or coarsely toothed, mostly compound

Plant:

3 to 12 dm tall, robust. The leaves were mixed with other plant leaves and smoked by the Okanagan and Thompson; and the dried, powdered roots were also smoked by the Thompson. A poultice of roots was applied externally to cuts, bruises, and inflamations by the Okanagan and the Thompson.

Habitat:

moist meadows at mid to upper elevations in the mountains

Distribution of species:

Alaska to California, mostly inland and in the east Cascades, east to Montana

Distribution of genus:

more or less 200 species: temperate regions worldwide except Australia