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Valerian, Red-spur | | Name : | Valerian, Red-spur | | Botanical : | Centranthus rubra | | Synonyms : | Pretty Betsy. Bouncing Bess. Delicate Bess. Drunken Sailor. Bovisand Soldier. | | Family : | Valerianaceae | | Habitat : | England, Scotland and the Mediterranean countries. | | Description : | The root-stock is perennial and very freely branching, enabling it to take a firm hold in the crevices in which it has once gained possession. The stems are stout, somewhat shrubby at the base, between 1 and 2 feet long, hollow and very smooth in texture. The leaves 2 to 4 inches long and pointed, opposite one another in pairs, are somewhat fleshy, their outlines generally quite entire. The very numerous flowers are in masses, either of a rich crimson colour, a delicate pink, or much more rarely white, and are in bloom from June to September. The spur to the long, tubular corolla is a marked feature. Each flower only contains one stamen. The fruit is small and dry, the border of the surrounding calyx forming a feathery rosette or pappus.
Linnaeus included this species with the Valerians, as Valeriana rubra, but De Candolle assigned it to a separate genus, Centranthus, in which all later botanists have followed him. The name of the genus comes from the Greek kentron (a spur) and anthos (a flower), in reference to the corolla being furnished with a spur at the base, which absolutely distinguishes it from the true Valerian, apart from other differences.
'Pretty Betsy' and 'Bouncing Bess' are popular names for the Red Valerian. Near Plymouth, we find the names 'Drunken Sailor' and 'Bovisand Soldier,' and in West Devon, the smaller, paler kind is known as 'Delicate Bess. |
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