RUE. 



Ruta Graveolcns. 



is little plant is mentioned but once, in Luke xi. 42, 

 to which passage we shall refer hereafter. It is a 

 perennial plant, seldom growing more than three feet 

 high, usually not more than two. The leaves are 

 divided or doubly pinnate, and rather thicker than is 

 usual in plants of this size. The bark of the plant near the 

 base is rough and woody; and the stem terminates in several 

 branches ending in smooth, soft, green twigs. The flowers are 

 small and yellow, and occur in such numbers at the top of the 

 plant that they might almost be said to grow in clusters. The 

 petals are four or five in number and concave, with usually ten 

 stamens, sometimes only eight. Its flowering-time in European 

 countries is from June to September. The plant is at present 

 used as a stimulant; but it has a disagreeable odor and a hot, 

 acrid, and bitter taste. The ancients used it as a condiment, 

 and believed it to have the power of preventing poisons from 

 affecting the human system. Even at present it is supposed to 

 have the quality of warding off infection; and it is said that in 

 some places in Britain it is strewed about the halls of justice, 

 as a preventive of disease which criminals might convey from 

 their cells to the court whither they are brought for trial. 

 This little plant is supposed to be a native of Southern Europe. 



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