VERVAIN HERB[VERBENA OFFICINALIS]
Listing description
Verbena officinalis, the common vervain or common
verbena, is a perennial herb native to Europe. It grows up
to a metre/yard high, with an upright habitus. The lobed leaves are toothed, the
delicate spikes hold mauve flowers.
Detailed description
This
plant prefers limey soils; it is occasionally grown as an ornamental plant but perhaps more often for the powerful
properties some herbalists ascribe to it. Propagation is by root
cuttings or seed. It is widely naturalised outside its native range, for example
in North America.
Use by humans
Common vervain has been held in high esteem since
the Classical Antiquity; it has long been associated with divine and other supernatural forces, and it
has an equally long-standing use as a medicinal plant. Herbal capsules
are used as a soporific drug in much
the same way as for the better known valerian.
Verbena officinalis herb has been used in the traditional Austrian medicine
internally (as tea or liqueur) for treatment of infections and fever.[3] Medical use of
Common Vervain is usually as a herbal tea; Nicholas Culpeper's 1652 The
English Physitian discusses folk uses. "Vervain", presumably
this species, is one of the original 38 Bach flower remedies, prescribed against "over-enthusiasm"[citation needed]. In the Modern Era, it is sometimes
considered a powerful "ally" of poets and writers, as its relaxing
effects can relieve writer's block.[citation needed] It cannot be considered safe to use
during pregnancy as it might
cause miscarriages.[citation needed]
While common vervain is not native to North America, it has been
introduced there and the Pawnee have adopted it as an entheogen enhancer and in oneiromancy, and is often referred to as the
North American version of Calea zacatechichi.[citation needed]
In western Eurasia, the term
"verbena" or "vervain" usually refers to this, the most
widespread and common member of the mostly American genus occurring there. It was called "tears of Isis" in Ancient Egypt, and later on
"Juno's tears".
In Ancient Greece,
it was dedicated to Eos Erigineia. In the early Christian era, folk
legend stated that Common Vervain was used to stanch Jesus' wounds after his removal from the cross; hence names like "Holy Herb" or (e.g.
in Wales) "Devil's bane"
Because of the association with the Passion of Christ, it came to be used
in ointments to drive out
and repel "demonic" illness.
Vervain flowers are engraved on cimaruta, Italian anti-stregheria charms. In the 1870 The History and Practice of
Magic by "Paul Christian" (Jean Baptiste Pitois) it is employed in the preparation of a mandragora charm[citation needed].
Hazlitt's Faiths and Folklore (1905)
quotes Aubrey's Miscellanies (1721), to wit:
A Royal Navy Arabis class sloop of
the World War I era was
named HMS
Verbena, and in World War II a Group 1 Flower class corvette bore the same name; a Group 2 vessel of the latter class
was called HMS Vervain.
The only Verbena widely found in England in a native state is
common vervain, though it is just as possible that the names reference the
popular ornamental verbenas, such
as the garden vervain.
PRICE
$9.66/KG
For more information:
mobile: +2348039721941
contact person: emeaba uche
e-mail: emeabau@yahoo.com
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