The name Frogfoot has been applied to the Vervain because its leaf somewhat resembles in outline the foot of that creature.
This herb with the vervain is supposed to form Count Mattaei's noted nostrum Febrifugo.
Geoffrey St. Hilaire and Pasteur praise the Vervain highly as beneficial against ailments of the hair, the fresh juice being especially used.
But a reputation clings to the vervain because it used to be held sacred, as "Holy Herb," and was employed in sacrificial rites, being worn also around the neck as an amulet.
Vervain grew on Calvary: and Gerard says "the devil did reveal it as a secret, and divine medicine.
Therein it is ordered that the root of Vervain shall be tied with a yard of white satin ribband round the neck of the patient until he recovers.
All this, and much more, he read in the finished naturalness with which Mrs. Vervain had met Miss Gaynor.
Mrs. Vervain went on, smoothly: "I supposed it might have struck you that there were times when we presented that appearance.
It was a surprise that, in this general harmony of circumstances, Mrs. Vervain should herself sound the first false note.
In Brittany, vervain is popularly termed the "herb of the cross," and when gathered with a certain formula is efficacious in curing wounds.
Vervain has long been in repute as a love-philtre, and in Germany now-a-days endive-seed is sold for its supposed power to influence the affections.
In France, too, at the present day, the vervain is gathered under the different changes of the moon, with secret incantations, after which it is said to possess remarkable curative properties.
Thus, two of those most frequently used as ingredients in the mystic cauldron were the vervainand the rue, these plants having been specially credited with supernatural virtues.
In our own country vervain used to be sought for its magical virtues on Midsummer Eve.
St. John's wort in, 55; vervaingathered at Midsummer in, 62 n.
In some parts of Spain people gather vervain after sunset on Midsummer Eve, and wash their faces next morning in the water in which the plants have been allowed to steep overnight.
In Belgium vervain is gathered on St. John's Day and worn as a safeguard against rupture.
In England vervain (Verbena officinalis) grows not uncommonly by road sides, in dry sunny pastures, and in waste places about villages.
Bohemian poachers wash their guns with a decoction of vervain and southernwood, which they have gathered naked before sunrise on Midsummer Day; guns which have been thus treated never miss the mark.
There was no bonnet to be found; but at last they came across one from which they tore a bunch of red vervain flowers.
The old perfume of vervain had died away; Helene's fingers had surely become greatly attenuated, and her hand was unusually soft.
As he hung over her he drank in the faint perfume of vervain that arose from her dressing-gown.
Start when the twilight has fallen, and when seven stars are shining over the sea; tell none your errand, and cast three sprigs from your vervain wreath if a hare should cross your path.
If you hide yourself there, with a wreath of vervain round your hair, and could catch them unawares, my heart tells me you might force them to restore what they have stolen.
In Brittany the Vervain is known as the Herb of the Cross.
The root of Vervain tied with a white satin ribbon round the neck acts as a charm against ague.
Vervain and baked toads, worn in silken bags around the neck, are a cure for the evil.
On the Eve of St. John (June 23rd), Vervain was for a long time associated with the observances of Midsummer Eve.
Lift up your boughs of Vervain blue, Dipt in cold September dew; And dash the moisture, chaste and clear, O'er the ground and through the air.
In the Druidic procession, to the gathering of the Mistletoe, the white-clad herald carried a branch of Vervain in his hand, encircled by two serpents.
In many rural districts, Vervain is still regarded as a plant possessing magical virtues as a love philtre.
The priests, when performing their daily functions of feeding the never-dying fires in the Druidic temples, prayed for the space of an hour, holding branches of Vervain in their hands.
In the first place, the ring had to be consecrated; the person from whose hand it was suspended required to be clothed in linen garments; his head had to be shaven all round; and he required to hold vervain in his hand.
Pliny writes that the Druids exhibited the herb vervain in the exercise of their rites.
The magi of the ancient Elamites or Persians made use of vervain in their worship or adoration of the sun, always carrying branches of it in their hands when they approached the altar.
Vervain was also one of the sacred plants of the Druids, both in Gaul and Britain.
The eye anointed with an ointment of vervain was supposed to possess second sight.
That this herb is used by witches may appear from the story of Anne Bodenham, the witch of Salisbury, who sent her ruffian-like spirits to gather vervain and dill, which was to be given to one whom she desired to bewitch.
Blue Vervain (Verbena hastata) is our most common example of the genus.
The merry chickadees divide their time between the rustling, ragged bark of the red birches and the withered heads of heath-aster and blue vervain below.
Blot out my senses or I die for love,-- Vervain and agrimony, clove and rue!
Julyan, raised for a last, time his nosegay of vervain to heaven, and then vanished in the midst of the blinding flames, while the chants of the bards and the clang of harp and cymbals resounded far and wide.
The Romans considered it a sacred plant, placing it in the hands of ambassadors who were about to enter on important embassies; and the floors of their houses were rubbed with Vervain to drive away evil spirits.
Common Vervainrivals the Mistletoe in its occult usages.
The ancients believed that "if the hall or dining chamber be sprinkled with the water wherein Vervain lay steeped all that sate at the table should be very pleasant, and make merry more jocundly.
Vervain is still believed to possess great medicinal virtues, and is described as a remedy for thirty different maladies.
We speak of vervain in connection with rue, because it was the 'holy herb,' just as rue was the 'herb of grace.
This power of the moonwort is said to be still believed in in Normandy, and a similar virtue was also ascribed to the vervain and the mandrake, both associated with rue.
Yet to this day some French peasants believe that the curative properties of vervain are most pronounced when the plant is gathered, with proper invocations, at a certain phase of the moon.
In old Greece and Rome vervain was sacred to the god of war, and in Scandinavia it was also sacred to Thor.
In later times it was believed that a decoction of vervain and rue, mixed, had such a remarkable effect on gun-metal that anyone using a gun over which the liquid had been poured would shoot 'as straight as a die.
Not only was the vervain sacred among the early Druids, but it acquired an early sanctity among Christians.
The Druids called vervain the 'Holy herb,' and gathered it when the dog-star rose, placing a sacrifice of honey in the earth from which they removed it.
Vervain was most esteemed, however, as a love potion, but the connection between its virtues in this respect, and its power over witches and spirits of evil, opens up a branch of inquiry away from our present purpose.
Let her boil burnet, mugwort, feverfew and vervainin all her broths.
The Blue Vervain is one of the weedy members of the genus.
The herb vervain was formerly held of great efficacy against witchcraft, and in various diseases.
Our provisions had been increased by an emu, which Charley shot; our remaining two kangaroo dogs also succeeded in catching an "old man" kangaroo on the Vervain Plains of the 14th November.
We several times met with fine plains, which I called "Vervain Plains," as that plant grew abundantly on them.
On the plains there were fields of native carrots, now dry; also of vervain and burr.
Large specimens of helix were frequent on the Vervain Plains, but they were only dead shells.
The vervain is still the plant of spells and enchantments, as it was amongst the ancients.
Ben Jonson says:-- Bring your garlands, and with reverence place The vervain on the altar.
If the patient should afterwards prove ungrateful to the good physician, the man of skill can avenge himself very easily by throwing the vervain into water; for as the root absorbs the moisture once more, the tumour will return.
As each departed, he threw the mugwort and vervain into the fire, saying, "May all my ill-luck depart and be burnt up with these.
As the vervain dries up in the smoke, so the tumour will also dry up and disappear.
Mrs. Vervain began to lament that she had not been able to go to the procession of the day before.
In the mean time he saw her gondola stop, turn round, and come back to the canal that bordered the Vervain garden.
If Miss Vervain wanted to turn the talk upon Don Ippolito, Ferris by no means did; he had had enough of that subject yesterday; he got as lightly away from it as he could.
Mrs. Vervain was alone in the room where he had always been accustomed to find her daughter with her, and a chill as of the impending change fell upon him.
Miss Vervain is very religious in her way, and she is truth itself.
The mother of Miss Vervainis here with her, and I do not feel that her interests in such a matter are in my hands.
Mrs. Vervain had herself rowed to the consular landing, and sent up her gondolier with another invitation to dinner.
Do you mean to say that Miss Vervain has advised you to renounce your priesthood?
All young men like a house in which no ado is made about their coming and going, and Mrs. Vervain perfectly understood the art of letting him make himself at home.
I'm always getting it on askew," Mrs. Vervain said for greeting to Ferris.
As he mounted the steps with Ferris, Mrs. Vervain came forward a little to meet them, while Florida rose and stood beside her chair in a sort of proud suspense and timidity.
He mused in silence his wonder that so much addlepatedness as was at once observable in Mrs. Vervain should exist along with so much common-sense.
Vervain was one of the herbs held most sacred by the Druids and, as the herbals of Gerard and Parkinson testify, it was in high repute even as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The virtues of vervain also are many; it must be picked "at Spring of day" in "ye monyth of May.
In connection with vervainhe quotes Pliny's saying that "if the dining room be sprinckled with water in which the herbe hath been steeped the guests will be the merrier.
Meadowsweet, water-mint and vervain (one of the three herbs held most sacred by the Druids) were those most frequently used for this purpose.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "vervain" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
