Name: Valerian officinalis – valeriana likarska (growing and cultivation)
Valeriana officinalis L. (s. 1.)
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Synonyms: pharmacy valerian, maun officinalis, incense, feverish root, earthen incense, averyan, cat root, cat root, etc.
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Description. A perennial herbaceous plant from the valerian family (Valerianaceae) up to 1.5 m high. The rhizome is vertical, short, densely covered on all sides with numerous cord-like roots. Stem solitary, furrowed, erect, leaves pinnately dissected, basal long-petiolate, medium short-petiolate, upper sessile.
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The flowers are small, pale pink, pale purple or almost white, collected in a thyroid inflorescence. The fruit is a ribbed achene with a tuft.
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The weight of 1000 seeds is within 0.5 g. It blooms from May to August, the fruits ripen in July-September.
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Medicinal raw materials: rhizomes with roots.
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biological features. Valerian adapts well to soil, climatic and meteorological conditions, so it grows on a wide variety of soils, in all kinds of climatic conditions. As a moisture-loving crop, it tolerates high soil moisture and at the same time can endure drought for a long time. With the help of a crest, its seeds scatter over long distances, contributing to reproduction.
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Habitat . Valerian grows on the slopes of mountains, along the banks of rivers, in flooded, swampy and damp places, on forest edges, between shrubs.
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Distribution . Valerian is found almost everywhere in Europe, with the exception of the Far North and South, as well as in Central and North Asia. In the USSR, there are up to 40 of its species and varieties (it grows in Ukraine, in Western and Eastern Siberia, in the Far East, Sakhalin, in the mountainous part of the Caucasus and Crimea).
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Composition of active substances. Rhizomes and adventitious roots of valerian contain essential oil (0.52.0%), valerian alkaloids and khotinin, valeric, malic, formic, acetic acids, as well as sugar, starch, etc. Valerian essential oil is a liquid with a sharp characteristic odor. It consists of /-barneol associated with a number of organic acids in the form of esters; /-camphene, /-pinene, terpineol.
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Application . Valerian is widely used as a central nervous system depressant and as a digestive aid. Water and alcohol tinctures are made from valerian roots, which have a calming effect and are recommended for nervous excitement, hysteria, shocks, insomnia, palpitations, as well as powders recommended for typhoid, scarlet fever, pneumonia. Valerian stimulates the processes of inhibition in the cerebral cortex, reduces reflex excitability, and relaxes spasms of smooth muscles.
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Valerian tinctures are very popular in folk medicine. They are traditionally prepared at home, for example, alcohol tincture or valerian drops, as well as ethereal and water tinctures.
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In folk medicine, valerian is also used as a carminative, antiemetic, anthelmintic, with the accumulation of gases in the intestines, headaches, hypochondria, etc. Use an infusion of a tablespoon of roots in a glass of boiling water (12 tablespoons three times every day), also in in the form of a 20% tincture from the rhizome at 70-degree alcohol, 60 or more drops every day in three divided doses.
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Valerian is part of products such as Zelenin drops, cardiovalen, corvalol, valocardin, valocarmid. In addition, an ether-valerian tincture is prepared from it.
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Agrotechnics of cultivation. Site selection. The most favorable for valerian are more fertile chernozems, sandy and light loamy soils with a sufficient amount of humus, as well as structural soils and soils that do not form crusts. Good predecessors are black fallow, tilled and winter crops, as well as crops that follow fertilized fallows. But most often, valerian is grown in open areas, in fodder crop rotations near the farm and in household plots in low places.
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Soil cultivation. In autumn, plowing is carried out on fallow to a depth of 2527 cm, and on podzolic soils to the full depth of the arable layer with a plow with a skimmer. If the field was previously occupied by winter, then after harvesting, stubble peeling is required; if the site was occupied by tilled crops, autumn plowing is necessary immediately after harvesting the predecessor.
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In spring, the plowed soil is harrowed in two or three tracks, then cultivated and harrowed again before sowing.
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Application of fertilizers. According to the Ukrainian Experimental Station of Medicinal Plants, the introduction of 40 g/ha of manure under autumn plowing significantly increases the yield of valerian roots. Mineral fertilizers are also applied at the rate of 15 kg/ha of nitrogen, 45 kg/ha of phosphorus and 2530 kg/ha of potassium.
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Reproduction. Valerian is propagated directly by sowing seeds in the ground. It is possible to sow in three periods: in late autumn, under winter, in spring and summer, depending on the conditions of the economy and the area. Valerian is sown with a row spacing of 45 cm. The seeding rate is 78 kg/ha of stratified seeds during the early spring and summer sowing periods; 910 kg/ha of dry seeds during winter sowing. Summer sowing is done with freshly harvested seeds only in areas with high rainfall. The depth of seeding on light soils is 23 cm, on heavy soils 11.5 cm. Winter sowing is carried out without seeding.
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Research in recent years by VILRA found that sowing valerian under the cover of other crops (vetch-oats for green mass, oats for grain) gives good yields of roots, not inferior to those of a coverless crop. This is due to the endurance of valerian to shading conditions.
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Care of plantations consists in loosening row-spacings, weeding, top dressing, in the fight against pests and diseases. It is advisable to carry out the first loosening on winter crops as early as possible, and on spring and summer crops immediately after the rows of seedlings are indicated.
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During the formation of a rosette of three to five true leaves, evenly thickened crops are thinned out, using light or medium harrows, which are allowed across the rows. Along with this, plantations are fed and pests and plant diseases are controlled.
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On 2-year-old plantations, the upper parts of the stem are removed. On transitional plantations, in early spring, the aerial part is removed (remains of stems from last year) and row spacing is immediately loosened. Further tillage is carried out as needed.
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Undercover plantations are harrowed in the second year of life in early spring.
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Harvest . The best time to collect valerian roots is considered to be late autumn (two to three weeks before the soil freezes). Harvested with potato harvesters. With good care, valerian yields up to 2025 centners of roots per hectare.
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Growing seeds . To obtain seeds, the best plots are allocated on industrial plantations or special crops are made at a high agrotechnical level with a feeding area of 60 X 30 cm.
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Seeds are harvested at 30% of the crop year (this is the year of the highest yield up to 2 q/ha).
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Drying. The dug roots are well shaken off the ground, cleaned of leaves, cut into two to four parts and washed. After washing, they are laid for drying under a canopy with a layer of up to 15 cm and left for one to two days. Then the roots go to special dryers, where at a temperature not exceeding 3540 ° C they finally dry out. Before packing the dried roots, they are removed from the dryer, carefully laid out on a clean floor and left for some time in piles so that they are moistened and do not break when packed.
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Pack. The roots are packed in bales or bales of 5075 and 100 kg.
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Storage. Raw materials are stored in a well-ventilated area in bales, bales or bags.
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quality requirements. According to the State Pharmacopoeia X, the finished raw material of valerian should have a short, thick, vertical rhizome, 24 cm long, 13 cm thick, with a loose core, often hollow (large rhizomes are cut into two or four parts). Thin adventitious roots 615 long and 13 mm in diameter, yellowish-brown in color, depart from the rhizomes on all sides (rhizomes at the break have a light brown
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color). Extractive substances not less than 25%. Allowed: for whole raw materials: moisture 16%; total ash 14; ash, insoluble in 10% hydrochloric acid, 10; rhizomes no longer than 2 cm with remnants of stems over 1 cm 3 long; organic impurities 1, mineral 3%. For cut raw materials: moisture 15%; total ash 13; ash, insoluble in 10% hydrochloric acid, 10; organic impurities 0.5, mineral 1; particles of rhizomes that do not pass through a sieve with a hole diameter of 8 mm, 10%.