COMMON YERY Am. —Feriem officinalis. 



Class DiDTNAiiiA. Order Axgiospermia. ]Vat. Ord. Verbe- 

 NACEJE. — Vervain Tribe. 



So small are the lilac blossoms of this plant, 

 that it Avins little regard from any but" the 

 botanist. Yet the Vervain was once a plant 

 of great repute, — the holy herb of om- fore- 

 fathers, and full of symbolic meanings in yet 

 older times. The ancients gathered it with 

 many ceremonies, and employed it when 

 making treaties w^ith ambassadors, in sacri- 

 ficial rites and incantations. They had their 

 Verbenalia, at which time temples wxre strewed 

 and sanctified with Vervain, the beasts for 

 sacrifice were filleted with its garlands, and its 

 flowery sprays were laid on the altar. Pliny, 

 as translated by Holland, says, '' It is used 

 in casting lots, telhng fortunes, and fore- 

 shewing future events by way of prophesie. 

 They add, moreover, that if the halle or 

 dining-ch amber be sprinkled with the water 

 wherein Vervain lay steeped, all that be at the 

 table shall be very pleasant, and make merrie 

 more jocundhe. Of all hearbes there is none 

 more honoured among the Romans than 

 Hierobotane, the sacred })lant Vervaine. It is 

 that hearbe which our ambassadors use to carry 



