Rue – 20 Seeds

Rue (Ruta graveolens) is a perennial herb with a strong odor, small greenish-yellow flowers and blue-green leaves. It is native to Southern Europe. It is also known as common rue or herb-of-grace. Rue is both a culinary herb and a medicinal herb.

Culinary Uses:

• The bitter tasting leaves are used as a condiment to flavor various foods and as a tea.
• They may be used raw or dried for use as a seasoning.

Medicinal Benefits

• It is valued for its flavonoids, particularly rutin, which strengthens blood vessels.
• It is also used as an anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, expectorant, hemostatic and stimulant.
• To treat coughs and stomach issues such as flatulence, it is given as an infusion.
• The juice of the rue plant has also been used to treat earaches.

Caution:  In large doses, however, it can be toxic, and it should never be used by women who are pregnant or nursing.

Other Uses:

• The plant is useful for repelling insects.
• The dried leaves are also an effective moth repellent.
• When mixed as a decoction, it can be used topically to kill lice and fly larvae.
• Rue plant oils are used in a range of cosmetics, fragrance products and soaps.
• The plants are also used to make a red dye.

Caution: Wear protective gloves when handling the plant.

Growing Rue

Indoor Sowing: Early Spring.

Direct Sowing: Spring.

• It is easy to start from seeds in the garden or in trays.
• Sow seeds in Spring.
• Rue seeds need light to germinate, so scatter rue seeds across the surface of the soil and then gently press the seeds into the soil with your hands.
• The seeds should germinate in up to 28 days.
• When the seedlings develop at least two sets of true leaves, they can be transplanted into the garden or into larger pots.
• It grows best in well-drained soil and will even grow in rocky, dry soil where other plants struggle to survive.
• Rue requires full sun to grow and is drought tolerant so it rarely needs watered.
• Water deeply every three weeks. Over-watering can cause root rot.