CLASS XIV. ORDER n.) VE1U3ENA. 869 



1. V. officina'ii/s, Linn. (l'"ig. 1004.) Common Vervain. Spikes fili- 

 form, paiiiculated ; stamens four; leaves ovale oblong, rough, deeply 

 cut and serrated, or trifid and cut, the petiole winged. 



Knglish Botany, t. 767. — English Flora, vol. iii. p. 72. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 240. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 196. 



Boot woody, with branched fibres. Slcm erect, from one to two feet 

 high, simple or branched, square, striated, more or less rough, with 

 short hairs. Leaves opposite, oblong, ovate, cut, and obtusely serrated, 

 often trifid, and the lobes also rut and serrated, the footstalk broadly 

 winged, dark green above, paler beneath, with prominent veins, rough, 

 with short hairs, smoother above. Inflorescence terminal spikes of lax 

 flowers, somewhat paniculated, on rough slender branches, elongated 

 after flowering. Bracteas small lanceolate scales. Calijx tubular, five 

 angled, rough, somewhat unequally five-cleft, with short obtuse points. 

 Corolla pale lilac, the tube slender below, dilated upwards, as long 

 again as the calyx, the limb in five spreading rounded somewhat 

 unequal lobes. Stamens four, inclosed within the tube. Anthers 

 small, two lobed. Style slender. Stigma obtuse. Fruit a four 

 seeded thin membranous evanescent capsule leaving the oblong seeds, 

 furrowed at the back and brown, in front a pale disk, rough, and sur- 

 rounded with an elevated border. 



Habitat. — Road sides and waste places ; frequent in England, rare 

 in Ireland, and at Iverkeithing, Scotland. 



Perennial ; flowering in July. 



Vervain was formerly called Herba Sacra, which has arisen from its 

 having been used in the sacred ceremonies, &c. of the ancients. It is 

 said that the worshippers of the sun hold branches of Vervain in their 

 hands during the time (hey are performing their sacred services ; and 

 in Virgil's Pastoral, 8, 89, it is said — 



•' Brin}< running water ; bind those altars round 

 With fillet*, and with vervain strew the {ground." 



The Druids held Vervain in great veneration, and before they dared 

 to gather it, made sacrifice to the earth in which it grew ; and Pliny 

 says they used it in casting lots, in drawing omens, and olher magical 

 arts : and according to Dryden they used it as food. 



" Some scattering pot-herbs here and there he found, 

 Which, cultivated with his daily care, 

 And bruised with vervain, were his daily fare.'' 



■Vervain was also said to possess numberless virtues both in the cure 

 of diseases, when taken as a medicine, or worn about the neck as an 

 amulet ; and when the Romans despatched their heralds at arms to 

 declare war, or proclaim peace to other nations, they wore a wreath of 

 Vervain. Drayton, in his Elysium of the Muses, in allusion to this 

 practice, says — 



" A wreath of vervain heralds wear. 

 Amongst our garlands named, 



5 U 



