During antiquity valerian was known as Phu. It is described in the writings of Dioscorides6) and Pliny. Later it is mentioned as a remedy by Isaac Judaeus1) and Constantinus Africanus,-) who are the first to use the term Valeriana. In a drug list of the Medical School of Solerno, Phu, Amantilla and Valeriana are mentioned as being identical.3) In the 11. century, however, the name Valeriana appears to have been in use,4) though the name Phu continued in literature as late as the 15. century.5)

1) Fluckiger, Pharmakognosie. 1891. p. 726.

2) Bericht von Schimmel & Co., October 1908, Supplement.

3) Dioscoridis De materia medica libri quinque. Editio Kuhn-Sprengel. 1829. p. 377.

4) Pfeiffer, Zwei deutsche Arzneibucher des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts. In Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akad. d. Wissensch. Vol. 42 (1863), II, p. 137. (However, the possibility is not excluded that the PoleiOl mentioned here and in earlier treatises pertains to the oil of Thymus Serpyllum.)

5) Hieron. Brunschwig, Liber de arte destillandi. De simplicibus. fol. 27.

6) Dioscoridis De materia medica libri quinque. Editio Kuhn-Sprengel. 1829. Vol. 1, pp.20 and 348.

During the middle ages the odor of valerian must have been a favorite for it was used for perfuming rooms, clothing and linen,0) in like manner as the roots of Valeriana celtica, L., and those of Nardostachys Jatamansi, D. C, (Nardus indica) were used during antiquity.7)

How common the use of valerian root was in Germany becomes apparent from the large number of popular names and synonyms of which lists are given by the abbess Hildegard8) in the 12. century, and by Hieronymus Brunschwig9) toward the end of the 15. century.

The treatises on distillation of the 16. century provide directions for distillates of valerian with either water or wine.

The distilled oil was obtained by Hoffmann, Boerhaave, and Geoffroy, in part from the dry, in part from the fresh root.10) Later Graberg (1782) described the oil,11) and Trommsdorff investigated the root in 1808.12) In 1830 he named the acid obtained from the aqueous distillate valerianic acid.13)

1) Isaac Judaeus, Opera omnia. Lugduni 1545. Cap. 45. "Fu, id est Valeriana, melior rubra et tenuis".

-) Steinschneider, in Rohlf's Archiv fur Geschichte der Medizin. 1879. p. 96. "Fu, id est Valeriana; naturam habet sicut Spica Nardi".

3) S. de Renzi, Collectio Salemitana. Alphita. 1854. III. pp. 271 - 322.

4) Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wordcunning and Starcraft of Early England. 1866. III. 6, 136.

5) Saladini Compendium aromatariorum. Bononas 1488. Index.

6) Turner, New Herball. 1568. Part. 3, p. 76. - Langham, Garden of Health. 1633. p. 598.

7) Dioscoridis De materia medica libri quinque. Editio Kuhn-Sprengel. 1829. Vol. 1, p. 7; and vol. 2, p. 348. - Brunschwig, Liber de arte destillandi. De simplicibus. 1500. fol. 39 and 107.

8) Hildegardis Abbatissae Subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum libri novem. Editio Migne. p. 1187.

9) Brunschwig, Liber de arte destillandi. De simplicibus. 1500. fol. 39. 10) Pfaff, System der Materia medica. Vol. 4 (1815), p. 172. 11) Lorenz Crell, Die neuesten Entdechungen in der Chemie 6 (1782), 123. 12) Trommsdorffs Journ. der Pharm. 18, I. (1809), 3. 13) Trommsdorff's Neues Journ. der Pharm. 24, I. (1832), 134.