Valeriana wallichii Valeriana wallichii Valeriana wallichii is a rhizome herb of the genus Valeriana and the family Valerianaceae also called Indian Valerian or Tagar-Ganthoda, not to be confused with ganthoda, the root of Indian long pepper. It is an herb useful in Ayurvedic medicine used as an analeptic, antispasmodic, carminative, sedative, stimulant, stomachic, and nervine. It grows in the Northwest Himalayas in places like Astore (Northern Pakistan) and forests in the region. The genus Valeriana, with about 200 species, belongs to the family Valerianaceae and has a distribution throughout the world. The Indian Valerian has long been used in Ayurveda (Charak Samhita
Valerenic acid Valerenic acid Valerenic acid is a sesquiterpenoid constituent of the essential oil of the Valerian plant. Valerian is used as a herbal sedative which may be helpful in the treatment of insomnia. It is likely that several components of the plant contribute to the effect. Valerenic acid is thought to be at least partly responsible for the sedative effects. Valerenic acid acts as a subtype-selective GABA receptor positive allosteric modulator via a binding site in the transmembrane domain at the βα interface. At receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes (frog eggs) it was shown that only assemblies incorporating β2 or β3