Herb Corner Issue 29

Happy May Day! Happy Cinco de Mayo!

This month I would like to share a bit about Blue Vervain:


Blue Vervain, or Verbena hastata, is has little lilac colored flowers that grow in dense spikes, two to three inches long, and are arranged in a panicle. It is rough with hairs. 4 to 7 feet high, usually branched above with broadly lance-shaped sharply toothed leaves. It is often found along roadsides in dry grassy fields.

During the time of antiquity it was used as a cure all and “more”. Romans sprinkled infusions around banquet halls to make their guests merrier. They also used it to purify their homes and temples. The magi in Persia used it for prophecies. The plant was also used to represent peace between warring communities. As legend would have it, those who recovered the body of Christ used it to stop His wounds from bleeding and was afterwards considered a good luck charm.

Celtic name for Blue Vervain is “Ferfaen” which means: to drive away a stone. Witches and warlocks were said to have used it as an aphrodisiac. The Chinese have used it for congestion and malaria. Both the ancient Egyptians and the Chinese believed that the herb had hidden powers. The Druids utilized vervain in divination, consecration, and ritual cleansing of sacred spaces.

Native Americans used this plant to treat fever, colds, coughs, lung congestion, diarrhea, female problems and dysentery. Pawnee Indians used vervain to improve their dreaming. Throughout time, people have used this herb to treat rabid dog bites, and to stop bleeding.

A report for 1785 stated that American Army physicians used the plant as an emetic and expectorant when they could not find anything else and found it to be successful. 18th century Jesuits prescribed the herb for headache, jaundice, and other ailments. It is also used for: promoting sweating, diuretic, earache, afterbirth pain, headache, intestinal cramps, cleanses and tones the liver, stimulates digestion, jaundice, vermifuge, and a sedative.


May you all have a great month!
Aeroia