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Range: Native to southern Europe
History: The name rue comes from the Greek rhute or reuo meaning to "set free." The Greeks used rue to protect themselves from withcraft as it was during medieval Europe years later. Rue was also believed to be capable of giving one "second sight" and Roman painters regularly partook of rue salad too preserve their eyesight. It was rue, combined with eyebright (Euphrasia), that was given to Adam by John Milton's angel to purge his sight in Paradise Lost. Mithradates (132 BC-AD 63) launched his rule of Pontus in Asia Minor by doing away with his competitors by poison. In order to prevent suffering the same fate, he took daily quantities of opium, aconite and other poisons to build up a resistance. Rue was the primary ingredient in his antidote formulas. Alas, his secret formula was secret no more when it was found upon his body after being stabbed to death. The Greeks also employed rue in their secret tonics such as "Drink of the Apostles" and the "Drink of Antioch." Rue was once a component of holy water, earning it the nickname of Herb of Grace. To the Talmud, the ancient book of Hebrew law, rue was considered such an important healing agent that it declared no tithe should be imposed on it. Rue was also an ingredient in the famous Four Thieves Vinegar used to thwart the plague during the Middle Ages. |
Rue was once a popular remedy for earache it
is was strewn about the house to deter fleas. Culpeper recommended rue
to ease "the shaking fits of agues" or pains in the
joints.
--Shakespeare, Richard III |
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