into short, broad, footstalks. Spikes several, opposite, and termi- 
nal, stalked, slender, pointed, lengthening out after flowering, and 
forming altogether a kind of panicle. Flowers numerous, small, 
sessile, bluish, each accompanied by a small egg-shaped pointed 
Horal leaf ( bractea ), shorter than the calyx. Stamens 4, two of 
them shorter than the other two (didynamous). Seeds blunt, 
dotted with minute hollows; when young they are inclosed in one 
common skin, or pellicle, which is obliterated as they ripen. 
Among the Ancients the Verbena O fficinalis, or common Vervain, 
was held in great veneration, especially by the Priests of Rome, of 
Gaul, and of Greece, the Magi of India, and the Druids of Britain. 
Many peculiar rites were observed by them at the gathering of this 
plant. After libations of honey had been poured forth, it was ga- 
thered with much solemn ceremony at the rising of the dog-star, 
when neither sun nor moon shone. In digging it up, the left hand 
only was used. It was then waved aloft, and the leaves, stalk, and 
root were dried separately in the shade, and thus prepared it was 
believed to be capable of curing the bite of all rabid animals, and 
arresting the progress of the venom of serpents ; the root, suspended 
about the neck as an amulet, was recommended as a sovereign me- 
dicine for the king’s evil, and a variety of diseases. It was also 
used in sacrificial rites and incantations; and chaplets of it were 
worn by Ambassadors and Heralds at Arms, on denouncing war, or 
conveying messages of defiance. It was likewise considered a charm 
to conciliate friendship : — 
“ There are fairer flowers that bloom on the lea, 
And give out their fragrant scent to the gale; 
But the vervain, with charmed leaf, shall be 
'The plant of our choosing, though scentless and pale. 
For, wrapp’d in the veil of thy lowly flower, 
They say that a powerful influence dwells, 
And that, duly cull d in the star-bright hour, 
Thou bindest the heart by thy powerful spells. 
AVe will plant thee beneath our sheltering tree, 
In our bovver we will bid thy blossoms unfold ; 
So faithful and Ann may our friendships be. 
So never may glowing hearts grow cold.”— Wild Garland. 
It is said that, even in the present day, the rustics in some parts 
of Germany and France, are wont to gather this plant under certain 
phases of the moon, accompanied by unintelligible cabalistic ejacu- 
lations, believing that the herb thus procured will operate as a charm 
against every calamity, natural and supernatural, and even possess 
the power 
“ That hind’reth witches of fheir will.” — With. Bot. Arr. 
“ Modern practice does not allow it to possess any medical efficacy, 
and its fanciful peculiarities are in no repute ; yet it seems to hanker 
after its lost fame, and lingers around the dwellings of man, for 
though not solely found about our habitations, as Miller thought, 
yet generally, when perceived, it is near some inhabited or ruined 
residence, not as a stray from cultivation, but from preference.” 
Journal of a Naturalist, 3rd cd. p. 96. 
