Valeriana officinalisL.

Common Valeriangarden valerian

WFO wfo-0000426953 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Valeriana officinalis, photographed by Aleksei Baushev
fig. a Aleksei Baushev, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-11 / obs. 205252694
Valeriana officinalis, photographed by Aleksei Baushev
fig. b Aleksei Baushev, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 205257025
Valeriana officinalis, photographed by CatherineK
fig. c CatherineK, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 204779957
Valeriana officinalis, photographed by Anne Thomson
fig. d Anne Thomson, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204868402
Valeriana officinalis, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. e Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203875169
Valeriana officinalis, photographed by dugald
fig. f dugald, CC0 1.0 / obs. 210993565
Valeriana officinalis, photographed by Anastasia_Surkova
fig. g Anastasia_Surkova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 203931258
Valeriana officinalis, photographed by Марина Садыкова
fig. h Марина Садыкова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 201332915

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 38 botanical countries

Regions where Valeriana officinalis is native: Iran, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine IranNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusTürkiyeAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine Sardegna
Native distribution of Valeriana officinalis, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Iran IRN ASIA-TEMPERATE
North Caucasus NCS
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 40 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Valeriana alternifolia Bunge
  • Valeriana alternifolia f. angustifolia (Kom.) Kitag.
  • Valeriana alternifolia f. verticillata (Kom.) S.X.Li
  • Valeriana alternifolia subsp. pseudocoreana Vorosch.
  • Valeriana alternifolia subsp. stubendorfiana (Sumn.) Vorosch.
  • Valeriana alternifolia subsp. stubendorfii (Kreyer ex Kom.) Vorosch.
  • Valeriana alternifolia var. angustifolia (Kom.) S.H.Li
  • Valeriana angustifolia subsp. stolonifera (Czern.) Rostański
  • Valeriana baltica Pleijel
  • Valeriana chinensis Kreyer ex Komarov
  • Valeriana coreana subsp. pseudoumbrosa (Vorosch.) Vorosch.
  • Valeriana dahurica Sumnev.
  • Valeriana elodea Sumnev.
  • Valeriana exaltata J.C.Mikan ex Pohl
  • Valeriana hispidula Boiss.
  • Valeriana jacutica Sumnev.
  • Valeriana kuminoviana Sumnev.
  • Valeriana leiocarpa Kitag.
  • Valeriana lucida DC.
  • Valeriana lyratifolia Sumnev.
  • Valeriana major Pall.
  • Valeriana multiceps Wallr.
  • Valeriana nemorensis B.Turk
  • Valeriana nipponica Nakai ex Kitag.

and 16 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.