Nature · Wildflowers & flowers

Red valerian

Neophyte (before 1600s) · perennial, flowers May to October · walls, cliffs, railway cuttings

Centranthus ruber — Caprifoliaceae

Red valerian is the Mediterranean plant that has made itself at home on British stone walls, sea cliffs, railway cuttings and quarries, its dense heads of deep pink to crimson flowers blooming from May to October. Brought into gardens before the 1600s, it is now naturalised and much loved by bees, butterflies and hummingbird hawk-moths.

How to spot them

▸Dense clusters of small crimson-pink (sometimes white or pale pink) tubular flowers, each with a spur behind
▸Fleshy, grey-green, hairless, oval to lance-shaped leaves in opposite pairs, on hollow stems to about 80 cm
▸Grows on old walls, cliffs, rock outcrops, railway cuttings and quarries, especially by the sea
▸Look-alikes: common valerian has pinnate leaves, paler flowers and a spurless corolla; soapwort has flatter pink flowers
▸A single spur and one stamen per flower separate it from true valerians

How to know it

Crimson-pink flower clusters with a spur behind each tube spill from old walls and cliffs, blooming from May to October

Red valerian - Centranthus ruber.

A Mediterranean native introduced into gardens before the 1600s that has become naturalised across the UK on stone and rubble

Red valerian - Wildlife Trusts; a neophyte.

Its long nectar tubes suit the long tongue of a day-flying migrant hawkmoth that hovers like a hummingbird

Red valerian - the hummingbird hawk-moth.

Its nickname in gardens is 'Jupiter's beard'

Red valerian.

Told from a damp-ground relative with pinnate leaves and pale pink flowers by its fleshy, unlobed grey leaves

Red valerian (common valerian, Valeriana officinalis, is the look-alike).

Quick-fire facts

•Centranthus ruber, now sometimes placed in Valeriana as Valeriana rubra; family Caprifoliaceae (formerly Valerianaceae)
•Wildlife Trusts: flowers May to October; introduced from the Mediterranean into gardens before the 1600s
•Habitat: old stone walls, roadside verges, railway cuttings, cliffs and rocks, coastal and urban
•The Wildlife Trusts note it is an excellent nectar source for bees, butterflies and moths, notably the hummingbird hawk-moth
•Flowers each have a nectar spur and a single stamen; true valerians have three stamens
•White and pale pink forms occur alongside the crimson
•Thrives on lime-rich, dry, poor soils, often in crevices
•Also called Jupiter's beard and kiss-me-quick

Drill it — 6 cards

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Sources

The Wildlife Trusts — Red valerian