''Valeriana edulis'', commonly known as edible valerian or tobacco root, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

native to North America in the family

Caprifoliaceae The Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family is a clade of dicotyledonous flowering plants consisting of about 860 species in 33 to 42 genera, with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution. Centres of diversity are found in eastern North America and easte ...

. Three subspecies with geographically disjunct distributions are recognized:Meyer, F. G. 1951. Valeriana in North America and the West Indies (Valerianaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 38:377–503. # ''V. e. edulis'' occurs in the

North American Cordillera The North American Cordillera, sometimes also called the Western Cordillera of North America, the Western Cordillera, or the Pacific Cordillera, is the North American portion of the American Cordillera, the mountain chain system along the Pacifi ...

from southern British Columbia to northern Mexico and from central Oregon to the

Black Hills The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to , is the range's highest summit. The name of the range ...

. # ''V. e. ciliata'' occurs in from the

Driftless Area The Driftless Area, also known as Bluff Country and the Paleozoic Plateau, is a topographic and cultural region in the Midwestern United States that comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme ...

around the southern

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

into the

Ontario Peninsula The Ontario Peninsula is the southernmost part of the province of Ontario and of Canada as a whole. It is bounded by Lake Huron on the west, Lake Ontario on the east, and Lake Erie on the south. At its tip, it is separated from Michigan by the De ...

. # ''V. e. procera'' occurs in the North American Cordillera of central Mexico. Despite the common name, "tobacco root," edible valerian is not closely related to

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

Description

Edible valerian is a long-lived herbaceous plant. Inflorescences are born on elongated, sparsely leaved stems usually around 0.75–1.5 meters tall. Flowers are small (0.5 mm diameter for pistillate flowers, 3–4 mm diameter for stamenate flowers) and cream or white. Flowering occurs in the summer months throughout most of its range.Soule, J. D. 1981. Ecological consequences of dioecism in plants: a case study of sex differences, sex ratios and population dynamics of Valeriana edulis Nutt. Michigan State University, East Lansing.

Evolution

Edible valerian and its close relatives in the Edulis clade of ''Valeriana'' is most closely related to the Central American clade.

Ecology

Edible valerian typically grows in moist montane meadows and subalpine parks between elevation, although herbarium collections are reported several hundred meters higher. Growth data indicate that individual plants may live up to 300 years. The small, shallow flowers of edible valerian make its pollen and nectar resources available to a wide range of small, generalist pollinators. In Colorado, solitary bees, flies, and moths are the most frequent floral visitors.

Conservation status

The subspecies ''V. e. ciliata'' was listed as Endangered in Canada in 2023. Population extinctions in Ontario were primarily caused by wetland habitat degredation and loss to urban development and agriculture. Competition from invasive reed canary grass may be responsible for declining abundance at the largest extant population. In the United States, ''V. e. ciliata'' is not federally protected. At the state-level, it is listed as State Endangered in Indiana and Ohio, State Threatened in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and Michigan, and as a species of Special Concern in Wisconsin and Iowa. It is not listed only in Illinois.

Uses

Edible valerian has long been used as food. One of the earliest written accounts is from the journal of explorer John Charles Frémont in the 1840s:

I ate here, for the first time, the ''kooyah'', or tobacco root, (''Valeriana edulis'') the principal edible root among the Indians who inhabit the upper waters of the streams on the western side of the mountains. It has a very strong and remarkably peculiar taste and odor, which I can compare to no other vegetable that I am acquainted with, and which to some persons is extremely offensive. It was characterized by Mr. Preuss as the most horrid food he had ever put in his mouth; and when, in the evening, one of the chiefs sent his wife to me with a portion which she had prepared as a delicacy to regale us, the odor immediately drove him out of the lodge; and frequently afterwards he used to beg that when those who liked it had taken what they desired, it might be sent away. To others, however, the taste is rather an agreeable one, and I was afterwards always glad when it formed an addition to our scanty meals. It is full of nutriment; and in its unprepared state is said by the Indians to have very strong poisonous qualities, of which it is deprived by a peculiar process, being baked in the ground for about two days.

The roots are best when collected in fall or spring, when firm. They can be steamed for 24 hours to remove the bad odor, then either used in soup or ground into flour.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q15396643 edulis Dioecious plants