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Vervain (Verbena officinalis)
- Thread starter joel
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Blue Vervain. The frist time I saw this plant I started calling it “the most un-photogenic plant in America”. I could never get a good pic of this plant. It’s skinny, almost no foliage and the blooms are tiny, about the size of an end of a small wooden match. Then there is white vervain, it’s blooms are 1/4 the size of the blue.
There are actually 5 species of Vervain (or verbena) growing where I live. The most common of which is Verbena brasiliensis, Brasilian vervain. There is a native species in N. America, another in Europe, others in Africa, and yet others in the middle east.
All are medicinal but almost no one that I know uses them. They are never used alone but sometimes are mixed into flu remedies. They are considered to be a weak flu treatment.
It has a very interesting history. Historically, blue vervain has been associated with sorcerers, witches, and magic. It even has ties to vampire in folklore. In ancient times, it was bruised and worn about the neck as a charm against headaches and venomous bites.
Blue vervain was used by Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Druids. In Egyptian mythology, vervain grew from the tears of Isis, goddess of fertility, as she grieved for her murdered brother-husband, Osiris. A thousand years later, vervain entered Christian mythology as the herb pressed into Christ's wounds to stanch his bleeding, hence its name herb-of-the-cross.
It was the divine weed that was sprinkled on the altars of Jupiter. Hippocrates recommended vervain for fever and plague. The court physician to Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great prescribed it for tumors of the throat (probably goiters). His fanciful prescription advised cutting vervain into two pieces, tying one around the patient's throat and hanging the other over a fire. As the heat and smoke shriveled the hanging root, the tumor was supposed to shrink.
The Romans spread vervain throughout Europe, where it became especially popular among the Druids of pre-Christian England, who used it in magic spells, hence its name enchanter's herb.
In fact, it is so closely associated with witchcraft that more than a few people were put to death in the dark ages simply because the plant was found growing on their property or by their house.
One more really neat thing about blue vervain… it’s stem. There is an old saying among plant people. “All mints have square stems but not all square stemmed plants are mints”. The verbena family has square stems and they are not in the mint family.
2 Pics of white vervain. In the first pic several dozen blooms of white vervain are visible, good luck finding them.
Blue vervain stem
There are actually 5 species of Vervain (or verbena) growing where I live. The most common of which is Verbena brasiliensis, Brasilian vervain. There is a native species in N. America, another in Europe, others in Africa, and yet others in the middle east.
All are medicinal but almost no one that I know uses them. They are never used alone but sometimes are mixed into flu remedies. They are considered to be a weak flu treatment.
It has a very interesting history. Historically, blue vervain has been associated with sorcerers, witches, and magic. It even has ties to vampire in folklore. In ancient times, it was bruised and worn about the neck as a charm against headaches and venomous bites.
Blue vervain was used by Persians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and Druids. In Egyptian mythology, vervain grew from the tears of Isis, goddess of fertility, as she grieved for her murdered brother-husband, Osiris. A thousand years later, vervain entered Christian mythology as the herb pressed into Christ's wounds to stanch his bleeding, hence its name herb-of-the-cross.
It was the divine weed that was sprinkled on the altars of Jupiter. Hippocrates recommended vervain for fever and plague. The court physician to Roman Emperor Theodosius the Great prescribed it for tumors of the throat (probably goiters). His fanciful prescription advised cutting vervain into two pieces, tying one around the patient's throat and hanging the other over a fire. As the heat and smoke shriveled the hanging root, the tumor was supposed to shrink.
The Romans spread vervain throughout Europe, where it became especially popular among the Druids of pre-Christian England, who used it in magic spells, hence its name enchanter's herb.
In fact, it is so closely associated with witchcraft that more than a few people were put to death in the dark ages simply because the plant was found growing on their property or by their house.
One more really neat thing about blue vervain… it’s stem. There is an old saying among plant people. “All mints have square stems but not all square stemmed plants are mints”. The verbena family has square stems and they are not in the mint family.
2 Pics of white vervain. In the first pic several dozen blooms of white vervain are visible, good luck finding them.
Blue vervain stem
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- Joined
- Dec 8, 2017
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I heard about the vampires, but was not sure it was folklore or part of
pop culture in one of the new shows to replace the great garlic curse of vampire lore.
I had heard the square stem rule also.
pop culture in one of the new shows to replace the great garlic curse of vampire lore.
I had heard the square stem rule also.
