Native to Europe and parts of Asia, V. officinalis is presently obtained from wild and cultivated plants in Britain, Russia, Holland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, eastern Europe and Japan. It is also cultivated in the United States. Polyploidy is common with V. officinalis and there are diploid, tetraploid and octaploid types. British valerian is usually octaploid and central European valerian usually tetraploid.

V. wallichii is the source of Indian valerian and is official in the Indian pharmacopoeia. Consisting of dried rhizomes and roots, it is collected in the temperate zone of western Himalayas. Found near Nagar, Minapin and Bultoria glacier in India, the root is known as ‘Tagara’ or ‘gilgiti valerian’ in Hindi.

V. angustifolia yields ‘kesso’ or Japanese valerian. V. mexicana, V. sitchensis, V. diocia, V. edulis are the other species traded as medicinal valerian. Other species such as Centranthus ruber root and rhizomes of Nardostachys jatamansii (Indian Spikenard) grow in alpine Himalayas of India and show a somewhat similar constituent profile. The latter is used as a sedative in Indian traditional medicine in conditions of hysteria and convulsions.