What is Valerian Root Extract?
Valerian is a plant native to Europe and Asia. It grows to up to four feet high and has trumpet-shaped flowers. Valerian roots are used medicinally. Although the fresh Valerian roots is relatively odorless, the dried Valerian roots has a strong odor that many find unpleasant.Valerian root extract has been used for centuries as a perfume and as a mild, relaxing sedative.
Valerian has been used as a medicinal herb since at least the time of ancient Greece and Rome. Hippocrates described its properties, and Galen later prescribed it as a remedy for insomnia. In medieval Sweden, Valerian root extract was sometimes placed in the wedding clothes of the groom to ward off the 'envy' of the elves. In the sixteenth century the Anabaptist reformer Pilgram Marpeck prescribed valeriantea for a sick woman.