Valeriana sibirica Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 34. 1753; V. ruthenica Willdenow.

Herbs, perennial, 5-25 cm tall. Taproot clavate, to 1.5 cm in diam. Caudices simple or branching, bark brown or dark brown, usually robust, with fibrous or lamellar remains of old leaf bases. Stems leafless or with a single leaf pair, pubescent, hairs in bilateral rows. Leaves rosulate; petiole 2-5 cm, glabrous or sparsely villous; blade oblong to linear, 2.5-5 × 0.3-2 cm, glabrous, entire or pinnatifid to pinnatisect; segments 2- or 3-paired, linear or linear-lanceolate, apex obtuse-rounded to acuminate; cauline leaves sessile, 1.5-6 cm, pinnatifid. Inflorescence corymbiform, 1.5-4 cm in diam. at anthesis; lateral branches 2-4 pairs; involucral bracts 1-3 cm, pinnatisect; segments sessile, linear; bracts obovate or ovate, ca. 2.4 × 2 mm. Calyx lobes obovate-oblong, oblanceolate, ovate, ovate-deltoid, or oblong, 0.2-1.8 mm. Corolla yellow, funnelform to campanulate; tube 2.5-3.2 mm, 2.5-3.2 mm in diam. distally; lobes ovate or ovate-elliptic, 1.5-2.3 × 1.4-2 mm. Stamens 4; longer filaments ca. 4.5 mm, shorter filaments ca. 4 mm; anthers oblong, ca. 1.5 mm. Ovary ovoid-oblong, 0.5-1.5 mm; style 3.3-3.7 mm; stigma obliquely capitate, ca. 0.6 mm in diam. Achenes narrowly ovoid, 3-4(-6) mm, sterile locules glabrous or hispidulous distally, fertile locule densely hispidulous on margin and proximally; bracteoles obovate, obovate-oblong, ovate, or ovate-oblong, 6-9 × 4.5-6.5 mm, 3- or 4-veined, entire or shallowly 3-lobed. Fl. May-Jun, fr. Jun-Jul. 2n = 22, 44.

Forests, forest margins, meadows, alpine meadows and stony slopes, stony riverbanks; below 1700 m. Heilongjiang, Nei Mongol [Japan, Mongolia, Russia (from European part to Far East)].