In addition to the known caffeoyl methyl ester, two pinoresinol type lignans were isolated from the whole plant of Valeriana carnosa Sm. One of these metabolites is 1 hydroxypinoresinol (1), which has previously been isolated from the genera Olea and Fraxinus. The other one (2) was identified as a novel compound and was characterised by using H-1 (including NOE experiments), and C-13-NMR spectroscopic techniques and mass spectrometry.