Verbena, Vervain, Ma Bian Cao 马鞭草

Sacra Herba, Sideritis, Herba Sanguinalis, Columbina
Ma Bian Cao (TCM)
New Kreuterbuch, Matthiolus, 1563


Male Vervain (left) and Female Vervain (above)
Herbarum Vivae Eicones, Otto Brunfels, 1530
Flora von Deutschland (19), Kohler, 1884
ADVERTISEMENT:
Botanical name:
Verbena officinalis
Several different varieties were noted including 'Male' and 'Female'

Parts used:
Root, herb in flower

Temperature & Taste:
Warm, dry. Bitter

Classifications:
2D ATTENUATERS OF CONGEALED BLOOD.    2F. PURIFYING.    2T. GLUTINATE
4b. OPTHALMIC

Uses:
1. Clears Wind and Heat, Resists Poison, Promotes Sweat: (West, TCM)
-Colds, Flu, as well as Epidemic, Malignant and Pestilential Fevers

2. Clears Heat and Toxic, Clears Swellings: (West, TCM):
-Cholecystitis, Jaundice, Hepatitis, Liver Cirrhosis

3. Moves the Blood, Promotes Menstruation: (West, TCM)
-Amenorrhea and Dysmenorrhea.

4. Clears Heat and Wind, Calms the Liver, Moves the Blood:
-specific for Headaches; used for Tension Headaches, Liver Headaches, Headaches from Blood Stagnation and Migraines

5. Kills Worms: (West, TCM)

7. Promotes Urine, Clears Gravel and Stones: (West, TCM)
-Edema

8. Clears Phlegm and Heat, Stops Cough and Wheezing: (West, TCM)
-heat-types of Coughs including Whooping Cough;

9. Externally:
-poultices or plasters for Headache, Toothache, Rheumatic pain
-poultices, plasters, compress and washes for Sprains, Swellings, Sores, Wounds, Abscesses, Boils, Skin Inflammations and Tumors.

ADVERTISEMENT
Main Combinations:
Betony & Vervain

1. Fever:
i. Vervain with Willow bark
ii. Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
2. Spotted Fevers, Small Pox, Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
3. Scarlet Fever, Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
4. Viral Infections, Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
5. Headache, Migraine:
i. Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
ii. Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
iii. Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
6. Epilepsy, Vervain with Peony, Mistletoe
7. Amenorrhea, Dysmenorrhea, Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
8. Anemia, Chlorosis, Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
9. Jaundice with spleen congestion, Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
10. Diabetes from Heat, Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
11. Ulcers and Abscesses, Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
12. Breast Swellings, Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
13. Wounds, Trauma, Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
14. Poor and Weak Eyesight:
i. Vervain with  ... available in PRO version
ii. Vervain with  ... available in PRO version

Cautions:
1. Not used during Pregnancy
2. Use cautiously in weak and blood-deficient patients.

Main Preparations used:
Distilled Water of the Herb, Ointment of Vervain
ADVERTISEMENT:
From HERBARIUM of APULEIUS.
i. For Wounds and Carbuncles and Glandular Swellings
ii. Again, for kernels or Glandular Swellings
iii. For those that have obstructed veins so that the blood cannot have its natural course, and for those that may not retain their food.
iv. For sore of Liver
v. For the infirmity in which Stones grow in the Bladder
vi. For Head sore
vii. For bite of Snakes
viii. For bite of attorcrop (type of flying insect)
ix. For bite of Mad Dog
x. For new Wounds
xi. For bite of Adder
(Herbarium of Apuleius c. 1050, taken out of Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, Rev. O. Cockayne, 1864)