Vervain.

Botanical name: 

Plate 49. Verbena

A common wild plant, about our path-ways, with slender spikes, and a few little flowers. It is two feet high; the stalks are numerous, square, very strong, a little hairy, and often purplish. The leaves grow two at each joint; they are oblong, narrow, notched at the edges, of a dusky green, and of a wrinkled and rough surface. The flowers are white, with a tinge of purplish: there is a long spike of their buds, and of the remaining cups, but only two or three flowers are open at a time.

The fresh gathered tops are used; an infusion of them is good against obstructions of the liver and spleen: it is warm upon the stomach, and a continued use of it will remove nervous complaints.


The Family Herbal, 1812, was written by John Hill.