562 MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



RUE. 



Ruta graveolens. 



Rue is a hardy, shrubby, nearly evergreen plant, and 

 thrives best in poor but dry and warm soil. It is propagated 

 by seeds, or slips, and by dividing the roots. The seeds are 

 sown in April, and the roots may be separated in spring or 

 autumn. The plants should be set about eighteen inches 

 apart in each direction. When extensively cultivated, they 

 are set in rows eighteen inches apart, and a foot asunder in 

 the rows. 



Use. " Rue has a strong, unpleasant odor, and a bitter, 

 pungent, penetrating taste. The leaves are so acrid as to 

 irritate and inflame the skin, if much handled. Its efficacy 

 as a vermifuge is unquestioned ; but it should be used with 

 caution. It was formerly employed in soups ; and the leaves, 

 after being boiled, were eaten pickled in vinegar." The plant 

 is rarely used in this country, either as an esculent or for 

 medical purposes. 



The kinds cultivated are the following : 



Broad- Stem shrubby, four or five feet high ; leaves 



leaved Rue J ' 



compound, of a grayish-green color and strong 



odor ; flowers yellow, in terminal, spreading clusters ; the 

 fruit is a roundish capsule, and contains four rough, black 

 seeds. 



At one period, this was the sort principally cultivated, and 

 is that referred to in most treatises on medicine. More re- 

 cently, however, it has given place to the Narrow-leaved, 

 which is much hardier and equally efficacious. 



Narrow- Stem three or four feet high ; foliage nar- 



leaved Rue. 



rower than that of the preceding, but of the 



same grayish color, and strong, peculiar odor ; the flowers 



