[The transition of psychotropic drugs in Japanese pharmacopoeia (JP) (Part 9). The transition of valerianae radix drugs in the books].

Valerianae Radix (V.R.) has been written about in every kind of books concerning the vegetable drugs and medicinal plants, published between the Meiji period and the Heisei period. Between the Meiji period and the middle of the Showa period, V.R. was introduced as a drugs for the cure of mental disease. However, recently V.R. was not included in almost all medical books and was not used in clinical fields. On the other hand, the action of V.R. is gentle and very easy to preparing OTC general drugs. Therefore, it is thought that V.R. will be revaluated for use in the treatment of the elderly.