Valerian (herb) Valerian (herb) Valerian ("Valeriana officinalis", Caprifoliaceae) is a perennial flowering plant native to Europe and Asia. In the summer when the mature plant may have a height of , it bears sweetly scented pink or white flowers that attract many fly species, especially hoverflies of the genus "Eristalis". It is consumed as food by the larvae of some Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species, including the grey pug. Crude extract of valerian root may have sedative and anxiolytic effects, and is commonly sold in dietary supplement capsules to promote sleep. Valerian has been used as a medicinal herb since at least
Valerian Kuybyshev Valerian Kuybyshev Valerian Vladimirovich Kuybyshev (; – 25 January 1935) was a Russian revolutionary, Red Army officer, and prominent Soviet politician. Kuybyshev was born in Omsk in the Russian Empire on . He studied at the Omsk Military Cadet School. He joined the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in 1904. The following year, he entered a military medical academy, but was expelled in 1906 for controversial political activities. Between 1906 and 1914, Kuybyshev performed subversive activities for the Bolsheviks throughout the Empire, for which he was exiled to Narym in Siberia where—together with Yakov Sverdlov—he set