rue

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Rue
Fringed Rue
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Sapindales
Family:	Rutaceae
Subfamily:	Rutoideae
Tribe:	Ruteae[1]
Genus:	Ruta
Species
Between 8–40 species, including: Ruta angustifolia—Egyptian Rue Ruta chalepensis—Fringed Rue Ruta corsica—Corsican Rue Ruta graveolens—Common Rue Ruta montana—Mountain Rue

Rue (Ruta) is a genus of strongly scented evergreen subshrubs 20–60 cm tall, in the family Rutaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, Macaronesia and southwest Asia. There are perhaps 8 to 40 species in the genus. A well-known species is the Common Rue.

The leaves are bipinnate or tripinnate, with a feathery appearance, and green to strongly glaucous blue-green in colour. The flowers are yellow, with 4–5 petals, about 1 cm diameter, and borne in cymes. The fruit is a 4–5 lobed capsule, containing numerous seeds.

It is very bitter. It was used extensively in Middle Eastern cuisine in olden days^[when?], as well as in many ancient Roman recipes (according to Apicius), and it is still used in northern Africa. In Italy rue leaves are sometimes added to grappa to obtain grappa alla ruta.

Medicinal uses

Effect of the common rue on skin in hot weather

Extracts from rue have been used to treat eyestrain, sore eyes, and as insect repellent.^[2] Rue has been used internally as an antispasmodic, as a treatment for menstrual problems, as an abortifacient, and as a sedative.^[3]

Precautions

Caution should be taken with using rue topically. Applied to the skin with sun exposure, the oil and leaves can cause blistering.^[4] Some people are much more sensitive than others.

Literary references

Rue is mentioned in the Bible, Luke 11.42: "But woe unto you, Pharisees! For ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs".

Rue is well known for its symbolic meaning of regret and it has sometimes been called "herb-of-grace" in literary works. It is one of the flowers distributed by the mad Ophelia in William Shakespeare's Hamlet (IV.5):

"There's fennel for you, and columbines:

there's rue for you; and here's some for me:

we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays:

O you must wear your rue with a difference..."

It was planted by the gardener in Richard II to mark the spot where the Queen wept upon hearing news of Richard's capture (III.4.104–105):

"Here did she fall a tear, here in this place

I'll set a bank of rue, sour herb of grace."

It is also given by the rusticated Perdita to her disguised royal father-in-law on the occasion of a sheep-shearing (Winter's Tale, IV.4):

"For you there's rosemary and rue; these keep

Seeming and savour all the winter long."

It is used by Michael in Milton's Paradise Lost to give Adam clear sight (11.414):

"Then purg'd with euphrasy and rue

The visual nerve, for he had much to see."

Illustration in the Tacuinum Sanitatis

Rue is considered a national herb of Lithuania and it is the most frequently referred herb in Lithuanian folk songs, as an attribute of young girls, associated with virginity and maidenhood. It was common in traditional Lithuanian weddings for only virgins to wear a rue (ruta) at their wedding, a symbol to show their purity.

In mythology, the basilisk, whose breath could cause plants to wilt and stones to crack, had no effect on rue. Weasels who were bitten by the basilisk would retreat and eat rue in order to recover and return to fight.

In the novel The Hunger Games, the female tribute from District 11 is named Rue.

The Tacuinum Sanitatis, a medieval handbook on wellness, lists these properties of rue:

• Nature: Warm and dry in the third degree.
• Optimum: That which is grown near a fig tree.
• Usefulness: It sharpens the eyesight and dissipates flatulence.
• Dangers: It augments the sperm and dampens the desire for coitus.
• Neutralization of the Dangers: With foods that multiply the sperm.

Rue is used by Gulliver in "Gulliver's Travels" (by Jonathan Swift) when he returns to England after living among the "Houyhnhnms". Gulliver can no longer stand the smell of the English Yahoos (people), so he stuffs rue or tobacco in his nose to block out the smell. "I was at last bold enough to walk the street in his (Don Pedro's) company, but kept my nose well with rue, or sometimes with tobacco".

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Ron has to take essence of rue for a couple of weeks while recovering from the poisoned oak-matured mead he drank in Professor Slughorn's office.

In the novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, the female tribute from District 11 is little girl named Rue. The main character katniss makes an alliance with Rue because she reminds Katniss of her own sister, Primrose.

Songs associated with rue

"Chervona Ruta" (Червона Рута—"Red Rue")—a song, written by Volodymyr Ivasyuk, a popular Ukrainian poet and composer. Pop singer Sofia Rotaru performed the song in 1971. Recently Rotaru performed in a rap arrangement.

The progressive metal band Symphony X named a song "Absinthe and Rue" on their first album, Symphony X, and Kathleen Battle, American soprano, has recorded the song cycle "Honey and Rue" written by composer Andre Previn in collaboration with the Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison.

Many traditional English folk songs use rue to symbolise regret. Often it is paired with thyme: thyme used to symbolise virginity, and rue the regret supposed to follow its loss.

"Una Matica de Ruda" is a traditional Sephardic wedding song, dating back to the Middle Ages.

See also

• Harmal (Peganum harmala), an unrelated plant also known as "Syrian rue"

References