Walk down a seed rack and the same plant can wear four or five labels. One packet says all-heal. The next says garden heliotrope. A third just says common valerian. That mix of valerian common names is why so many shoppers stand at the nursery unsure they grabbed the right thing.
The names you will see most are all-heal, garden heliotrope, garden valerian, and common valerian. All of them point to one plant. On the back of the packet you will find its real name set in Latin, and that name is Valeriana officinalis. This is the tall white-flowered herb you grow for its calming root. So two tags can use very different words and still mean the same plant in your hand.
Why does one herb pick up so many names? Common names grow from how people use a plant and how it hits the senses. The label all-heal came from its old folk name as a cure for nearly everything. People once reached for it to treat all sorts of ills, and the name stuck for hundreds of years. So when you read all-heal on a packet, you are really reading a bit of old history.
The name garden heliotrope has a different story. Its sweet, pale flowers smell a lot like the flower called heliotrope. So gardeners borrowed that name even though the two plants are not related at all. The scent is the only link, but it was enough to stick. If you brush past the blooms on a warm day, you will catch that soft, sweet smell yourself.
Common names also shift from place to place and from one century to the next. A scientific name does the opposite. It stays the same no matter where you shop or what language your catalog uses. So that one fixed name is the tool that clears up the mess the folk labels make for you.
Here is the part that trips people up most. The true plant you want for its calming root has the Latin name Valeriana officinalis on the tag. It sits in the plant family that we call Caprifoliaceae. But there is a second plant that also goes by the name valerian. You may hear it called red valerian, and its own Latin name is Centranthus ruber.
Red valerian is a different plant in a different group. It has bright pink-red blooms, not the pale white ones you want. It does not have the calming root that gardeners and herbalists reach for. You will spot it growing wild along old walls and roadsides. The shared nickname is the only thing it has in common with the real herb. This is one of the valerian common names that can lead you astray.
This is why the botanical name is your safest tool. When you buy seed or root, look past the pretty common name on the front. Check the small print for the words Valeriana officinalis. That short Latin name tells you that you have the genuine herb and not a look-alike with the same nickname.
So treat the common names as friendly nicknames, not proof of what is in the bag you hold. All-heal, garden heliotrope, and common valerian can all sit on packets of the real plant. But the one phrase that makes it sure for you is the Latin name Valeriana officinalis in the fine print. Learn that one name, and your trips to the seed rack stop being a guessing game.
Read the full article: Valerian Plant: Grow, Identify, and Use It
