RUE FAMILY 



Here, in this place 

 I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace; 

 Rue, even for ruth, here shortly shall be seen, 

 In the remembrance of a weeping queen. 



— "Richard II," Act III, Sc. 4, Shakespeakk. 



Among the ancients Rue was in great repute as an amulet; in 

 mediaeval times it was a common witch's drug; later it had a place 

 in the materia medica. To-day it is simply a coarse, disagreeable 

 herb, interesting because of the associations that gather about it, 

 of itself worthless and unattractive. 



DICTAMNUS. GAS PLANT. DITTANY 



Dictdmnus dlbus. 



An old Greek name, supposed to indicate foliage like the ash. 



A garden favorite of long standing, with glossy, leathery leaves, having 

 strong smell of lemon. Southern Europe to northern Asia. Summer. 



Stems. — Three feet high, forming clumps. 



Leaves. — Alternate, odd-pinnate; leaflets nine to thirteen, ovate- 

 serrulate, dotted with oil glands. 



Flowers. — White or pale purple, pencilled with darker lines, fragrant, 

 borne in long, showy, terminal racemes. 



Sepals. — Five. 



Petals.— Five, long and lanceolate on short claws, the lower declining, 

 the others ascending. 



Stamens. — Ten; filaments long, declining and curved, partly glandu- 

 lar. 



Ovary.— A little elevated, deeply five-lobed; styles five; in fruit the 

 ovary separates and becomes five, flattened, two to three-seeded pods. 



Dictamnus was a great favorite in old gardens because of its 

 fine clumps of glossy, dark-green, aromatic leaves which make 

 it a very efiective plant throughout the entire season. Flowers 

 and flower stems are covered with glandular hairs which secrete a 

 volatile oil so abundantly that at the height of the flowering sea- 

 son and when the fruit is forming the plant ignites for a moment 

 at the burning of a match. 



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