What is Blue Vervain?
Blue Vervain, also known as Simple's Joy or Wild Hyssop, is a flowering permanent plant from the United States and parts of Canada. The Latin name of the plant is verbena hastata , which means "sacred herb" and "Halberd in the shape", referring to the shape of the basal leaves. The herb is a member of the Verbenaceae family, also known as the Verben family, which contains a number of aromatic herbs that produce spikes or clusters of flowers.
Blue Vervain commonly occurs growing in small colonies on meadows, fields, marshes, drainage ditches and along streams or streams. Each plant can reach up to 4 feet (1.2 meters) in height and produces long, persecuted leaves that are rough to the touch and narrow towards the tip. Square stems branch above foliage and carry 12 or more flowers on the plant in the summer until autumn.
Blue, tubular flowers are about 1/8 inches wide (3 millimeters) with five small lobes. Blue flowers vervain are insects-pollinated and rich innectar. They attract bees and bumble bees that are primary pollinators of plants. Flowers die at the end of autumn, but the stem often remains throughout the winter to dispel the seed. At the end of summer, small red buds appear just below the soil surface and the next year they grow from the buds from the buds.
Native Americans used Blue Vervain for various culinary and therapeutic purposes. The seeds were harvested and ground into flour for cooking or consuming raw and the leaves were made of tea. The herb was used as an emetic or substance that causes vomiting, for the treatment of fever and stomach problems.
Pomped leaves Blue Vervain are used in folk medicine to treat headaches, earaches and rheumatism. Externally located on the affected area, it is assumed that the leaf juice provides relief from pain. Tea produced by slices are traditionally used to treat pilots and bladder stones.
Although people have used Blue Vervain for centuries, it is also an important plant for different animals and insects. Verbena feeds on leaves of herbs in spring, Swamp Sparrows and cardinals eat seeds and rabbits in cotton leaves eat leaves and stems. Some insects that feed on blue vervain are parasites that can kill the plant unless controlled. These include the miner of the Verbena Leaves and the parasitic Dodder, which both nutrients of the plant.