The Greek physicians, Galen and Dioscorides, aptly called the plant "phu" because of its distinctive and rather unpleasant smell resembling that of ancient leather or something akin to stale perspiration. The older botanical classification, V. phu, reflects this. The root is still added as a musky tone to perfumes. The plant was named in the 9th or 10th century, and the name is thought to have derived from the Latin verb valere meaning "to be happy."
Earlier, when the pharmacies made their own extracts and discarded the roots in the backyards, one could see cats from the town roll upon them. Male cats are mad with some pyridine alcaloids in valerian root, e.g. the iridoid monoterpene actinidine, resembling the active ingredient nepetalactone in catnip (or catmint), Nepeta cataria (Labiatae).
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