Blue Vervain
Verbena hastata
Latin Name: Verbena hastata
Common Name: Swamp Vervain, Blue Verbena, Simpler’s Joy, Swamp Verbena
Family: Verbenaceae
Contraindications:
Due to extreme bitterness, it can cause nausea if too much is consumed.
Due to emmenagogue effects, do not take if pregnant.
Blue vervain has a strong cooling effect on the body, so it's not a good match for people who often feel cold, low-energy, or too relaxed. It's especially helpful for people dealing with heat, overstimulation, and most of all—tension
May compound the effect of relaxants or sedative drugs.
Native To: North America
Botanical Description:
Grows 2 to 4 feet tall
Long blooming
Long blooming—blooms July through September and is a great nectar source
Habitat:
Found naturally in disturbed sites in moist meadows, thickets, pastures floodplains, riversides, ditches, river-bottom prairie and swamps. Good plant for rain garden swale or area with poor drainage
Full Sun to Part Shade
Medium to dry soil, very drought resistant
Spreads slowly through rhizomes and self-seeding
Parts Used: Aerial parts in flower
Taste: VERY BITTER, acrid
Herbal Actions:
Bitter Tonic
Nervine Sedative
Anti-spasmodic
Relaxant Diaphoretic
Emetic
Diuretic
Emmenagogue
Galactagogue
Affinities:
Stomach and Digestive System
Liver and Gallbladder
Febrile Mechanism
Nervous System
Musculoskeletal System
Reproductive system as it relates to menstruation, lactation, and menopause
Kidneys
Energetics: Cooling, Drying, Relaxing
Key Constituents:
Iridoid glycosides (verbenalin, hastatoside)
phenylethanoid glycosides (verbascoside - acteoside)
flavonoids (flavones: luteolin)
tannins
mucilaginous polysaccharides; traces of volatile oils
Some Ways To Work With This Plant:
Psychological Support: According to Edward Bach of Bach Flower Essences, the blue vervain person is highly driven, motivated and exerts their will upon the world in a powerful way because it is fueled by a vision, dream, inspiration, or a calling. They push themselves beyond the limits of their physical body and often neglect themselves, forgetting to eat, shower, clean, drink water, exercise and lose sleep. They most commonly experience stiff necks and are constantly exhausted. Working with the flower essence of blue vervain can support in developing one’s ability to slow down, pace, take better care of their bodies, and learn how allow give others space to contribute to projects. Patricia Kaminski and Richard Katz from the Flower Essence Repertory state, “Vervain is particularly an embodiment remedy, helping the soul to center and grind its tremendous enthusiasm.”
Digestive Stagnation and Tension: Bitter tasting herbs stimulate the liver and gallbladder to create bile which supports the digestive system in breaking down food. This makes it the perfect remedy for poor digestion that is due to lack of secretion or stomach deficiencies. Combined with it’s nervine sedative qualities, blue vervain helps relax stomach muscles easing stomach cramps and tension and allowing food to flow more freely through the digestive tract.
Liver Constriction: When our nervous system is constantly stressed, our body enters “fight or flight” mode. This means the body stops sending blood to our core organs (the liver being one) and focuses on sending blood to our outer body (aka our muscles and limbs) to prepare to battle what our simple mind perceives as a scary external threat (aka a giant bear threatening us). When this becomes chronic, our liver gets less and less fresh oxygenated blood which makes it super difficult for the liver to effectively process all the “bad blood” that carry all the waste products and toxins that the liver is in charge of processing. This leads to liver stagnation and can cause a number of different symptoms including the most popular symptoms of liver stagnation—liver tension and spasm which can be experienced as stiff neck, shoulders, and tension headaches. So if you experience tension headache, with excess heat, rapid pounding pulse, and stiff neck and shoulders— blue vervain is the remedy for you. The nervine sedative qualities will relax the blood vessels allowing blood to flow more freely; the bitterness will drain the vital force down and away from head, neck and shoulders; and the artery that feeds the liver fresh blood will open back up.
Fever: Fevers can cause our nervous systems to become overstimulated. When our nervous system is overstimulated, we can experience our bodies tensing up. This tensing up happens not just in our gross muscles (like our the muscles in our shoulders or jaw) but also alll the way down to the muscles that line our blood vessels! When this happens, blood flow becomes constricted and irregular which can cause blood to pool in certain parts of our bodies. When blood flow is constricted, irregular, and pooling, the body has a harder time regulating it’s temperature because the blood isn’t evenly flowing throughout the body. This is what causes the hot, irritable, tense, restless stage of a fever (as opposed to the cold shivery stage of a fever which need the support of stimulating diaphoretic). As a relaxant diaphoretic, blue vervain calms the nervous system which allows the muscles that line our blood vessels to relax, causing a more even flow of blood which allows the body to better regulate itself because the blood is more evenly spread throughout the body.
Menstruation, lactation, and menopause: During menopause, the body goes through a major hormonal shift. The ovaries stop producing estrogen, and the adrenal glands take over — but breaking down and processing these complex hormonal changes requires a lot of energy. If the liver isn’t functioning optimally, it can easily become stagnant or overwhelmed, which may lead to symptoms like irritability, headaches, and hot flashes. Blue vervain is especially helpful here. It relaxes tension, cools excess heat, supports liver detoxification, and helps bring the energy of the body downward. It can help relieve the kind of stuck, hot, restless energy that often shows up during this transition. It’s also helpful for PMS that involves strong food cravings, mood swings, or anger — all common signs of liver stagnation and hormonal imbalance in the second half of the menstrual cycle.
Herbal Preparations:
Tea – this plant is too bitter to enjoy as a tea, but if you’re curious. Go for it!
Tincture — Best tinctured fresh when plant is in flower with 60-70% alcohol.
References:
Blue Vervain (Verbena Hastata). (n.d.). Sag Moraine. https://sagmoraine.org/blue-vervain-verbena-hastata/
Tried and True Native Plant Selectionsfor the Mid-Atlantic:*Verbena hastata* (Blue or Common Vervain). (n.d.). MGNV. https://mgnv.org/plants/native-plants/perennials/verbena-hastata/
Vervain. (n.d.) Flower Essence Society.https://www.flowersociety.org/essence/370
Popham, Sajah. Materia Medica Monthly: Blue Vervain.
written by khadija khansia
This information is provided for educational purposes and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Use with caution and consult with a doctor or herbalist before consuming if you are pregnant or on other medications. Please do your own research before consuming to know if this medicine is right for your body.
