Valerian
Valeriana officinalis
Tall perennial; the malodorous dried root is a traditional sleep herb and a supplement aisle staple. Flowers smell sweeter. Cats may roll in it. Not a salad plant.
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
What it is
Tall perennial; the malodorous dried root is a traditional sleep herb and a supplement aisle staple. Flowers smell sweeter. Cats may roll in it. Not a salad plant.
Identification
Pinnate leaves; pale flower clusters; root that smells like old socks when dried.
From the existing encyclopedia
Dried Valerian root or leaf is bitter and camphorous, usually steeped as evening tea in folk practice. Culinary amounts differ from concentrated supplement products. Store in a cool, dark cupboard in an airtight jar; label with purchase date. Balances with honey or dates in warm drinks when used as food sweetening. When substituting dried Valerian for fresh, use about one-third the volume and bloom in fat or hot water before adding acid or dairy.
Growing
- Climate. 4–8
- Light. Sun to part shade
- Soil. Moist, rich
- Planting. Seed or division. Tall — stake if floppy.
- Harvest. Roots from mature plants in fall if you have a lawful, informed reason — this site does not dose sleep.
Traditional uses
Traditional use Folk sleep root — traditional use
AAA interpretation Traditional use is not automatically evidence, and evidence is not automatically a shopping recommendation.
Supplement relevance
AAA interpretation Valerian capsules are supplements with variable quality. Growing the flower does not standardize a dose.
If you are considering a bottle, use the food-first tools rather than a social-media urgency loop.
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- No USDA FoodData Central nutrient profile is attached here. That is not a claim that the plant contains no nutrients.
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
- Integrated from the existing aaaLifetime / quantum-biohack encyclopedia corpus (unique text preserved where it was not boilerplate).
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class B. Good foundation: enough unique information to exist as its own destination.