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31 October 2005

Secret of the Pied Piper? Valerian? Who Knew? "Valerian has an effect on the nervous system of many animals, especially cats, which seem to be thrown into a kind of intoxication by its scent. It is scarcely possible to keep a plant of Valerian in a garden after the leaves or root have been bruised or disturbed in any way, for cats are at once attracted and roll on the unfortunate plant. It is equally attractive to rats and is often used by rat-catchers to bait their traps. It has been suggested that the famous Pied Piper of Hamelin owed his irresistible power over rats to the fact that he secreted Valerian roots about his person."[More:]

I'm lucky to have a number of shops nearby that sell all sorts of natural herbs and spices (like really natural, like people in the mountains pick 'em, and we get 'em), so I picked up some valerian, just because I'd never tried valerian tea, and thought it might be nice to have on hand for nervousness or sleeplessness. So I looked it up on the wonderful botanical.com and found the connection with the Pied Piper story. Cool.

By the way, the story is not, evidently, just a fairy tale as I had always thought. Apparently, back in 1284, something happened to the children of Hamelin, and persistent legend has them turning up later in Transylvania. So put that in your Halloween pipe and smoke it.
post by: taz at: 17:20 | 8 comments
I'm such a dork that I automatically thought you meant this Valerian, but this is a cool story anyway, Taz. Thanks.
posted by interrobang 31 October | 19:05
Valerian smells really funky, but I never would have guessed that cats and rats would go for it. Incidentally taz, it's nice for making you feel warm and comfortable and sleepy, but the tea tastes like funky dirt.
posted by Specklet 31 October | 19:07
Agree with Specklet on Valerian tea, nasty stuff and the hallucinations are nowhere near as good as with a little mushroom tea.

I used to take valerian to help me sleep along time ago. But, one evening, the capsule got stuck, dissolved and released its powdered contents and I had the most awful stinky, painful burps you can ever imagine. I did NOT sleep well that night and have not taken the stuff since.
posted by fenriq 31 October | 19:12
I wonder if what you get normally is from the root? These are just the leaves (and flowers?), and the bit I tried wasn't terrible, though not exactly extra-tasty.

At this very moment I'm drinking this because of iconomy's tea thread. Not the exact thing she recommended, but it's close enough for these parts... and very delicious! (And it's 2:30 in morning so it won't keep me awake when I finally go to bed.)
posted by taz 31 October | 19:34
I think taz may be right about the leaves vs. root thing. I've never smelled valerian leaves, but the valerian root capsules I have smell truly, truly foul. Like old sweaty socks that have been worn far too many times between washings, and left forgotten in the back of a gym locker for months. There's even a warning about the stench on the bottle, and I can't imagine drinking tea made from the stuff.

But they do take the edge off when I'm feeling especially anxious...
posted by nixxon 31 October | 20:52
Fever.
posted by stilicho 31 October | 21:34
I take valeriana capsules from time to time, when i get insomnia attacks, but the strange side effect is that I get absolutely bizarre dreams when i do take them
posted by dhruva 01 November | 02:43
hmmm

The rats weren't in the first versions of that tale. My impression is that the story is about the out-migration of the youth of Hamelin.

Valerian root is totally nasty (one of nature's little warning signals). Combined with Skullcap, it does have soporific qualities, and like dhruva notes.. is mildly psychotropic. Once again.. using strong medicinal herbs requires care; dosage is hard to calculate. Best to use preparations compounded by an expert rather than growing your own when it comes to Valerian root.
posted by reflecked 01 November | 08:04
Virtual Pumpkin || THIS IS A THREAD FOR PEOPLE WHO HATE HALLOWEEN!

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