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This is Starwest’s nitrogen-flushed double wall silverfoil pack.

‘Dosage: Unless otherwise prescribed: Infusions: 2 – 3 g of drug per cup, once to several times per day. Tincture: ½ – 1 teaspoon (1 – 3 ml), once to several times per day.

Extracts: Amount equivalent to 2 – 3 g of drug, once to several times per day.

External Use: 100 g for one full bath; equivalent preparations.

Mode of Administration: Internal: As expressed juice from fresh plants, tincture, extracts, and other galenical preparations. External: As a bath additive.

Actions: Sedative: Sleep-promoting’ The World Health Organization also recommends Valerian as a mild sedative, pain-reliever and sleep-promoting agent.

Valerian root contains many constituents, including essential oils that appear to contribute to the herb’s sedating qualities. Contemporary clinical studies have demonstrated that Valerian significantly improves sleep quality without morning grogginess. Regular, moderate use produces neither dependency nor health risks.

Valerian was included in many editions of the United States Dispensatory (Merck) since 1849, which reported the herb’s effect on the nervous system and its ability to produce drowsiness and sleep.

Various valerian species are still included in the pharmacopoeiae of many nations including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The United States Pharmacopeial Convention has accepted a valerian monograph for inclusion in the National Formulary (Pharmacopeial Forum, 1998). It is widely used as a sedative and antispasmodic in the United States.

Valerian preparations appear to be candidates for safe and effective nonaddictive alternatives to conventional sleep medications. Valerian roots contain several compounds with demonstrable pharmacological activity. Valerian analyses have primarily focused on the essential oil, valerenic acid and valepotriates. In the United States, the essential oil and valerenic acid are commonly used as marker compounds for qualitative and quantitative analysis of valerian root and valerian products.

Grieve’s classic ‘A Modern Herbal’: ‘Valerian is a powerful nervine, stimulant, carminative and antispasmodic.’ ‘It has a remarkable influence on the cerebro-spinal system, and is used as a sedative to the higher nerve centres in conditions ofnervous unrest, St. Vitus’s dance, hypochrondriasis, neuralgic pains and the like.’

‘The drug allays pain and promotes sleep. It is of especial use and benefit to those suffering from nervous overstrain, as it possesses none of the after-effects produced by narcotics.’