vervain

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun any of numerous tropical or subtropical American plants of the genus Verbena grown for their showy spikes of variously colored flowers

From Middle English verveyne, from Old French verveine, from Latin verbēna. Doublet of verbena.

Sad cypress, vervain, yew, compose the wreath, And ev’ry baleful green denoting death. — The Aeneid, Virgil
Which may be easily done in aviaries and voleries by the help of saltpetre and the sacred herb vervain. — Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais
[31] After she had hung them round with vervain and forest boughs, throwing up the earth from two trenches not far off, she performed the rites, and plunged a knife into the throat of a black ram, and besprinkled the wide trenches with blood. — The Metamorphoses of Ovid, Books I-VII, Ovid

verbena

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