  Valerian, Red-Spur  Botanical: Centranthus rubra (D. C.)
Family: N.O. Valerianaceae  ---Synonyms---Pretty Betsy. Bouncing
Bess. Delicate Bess. Drunken Sailor. Bovisand Soldier.
---Habitat---England, Scotland and the Mediterranean countries.
The Red-Spur Valerian, a plant with lance-shaped, untoothed
leaves and red flowers with a spur at the base, grouped in dense
clusters, must not be confounded with the true medicinal
Valerian, though the mistake is often made. It is destitute of
the properties of the official Valerian, and is not usefully
applied in England, though in some parts of Continental Europe
the leaves are eaten. They are exceedingly good in salad, or
cooked as a vegetable, and in France there is a sale for the
roots for soups.  This plant is not truly British, but is
perfectly naturalized in the south of England, being found quite
often growing on rocks or walls, in old chalk-pits, railway
cuttings and waste places in Kent and Devonshire, though less
frequently in the northern counties and only