Is The Vampire Diaries’ Poison Vervain For Real?

October 5th, 2009 § 0

Today’s post is brought to you by Vampire Diaries’ latest storyline. If you have been watching then you know what’s going on with Damon, Stefan and the vervain. If you are like me then you were probably thinking “is vervain actually a poison used against vampires like in the show?” Well, I did some research and it turns out that back in the day it was in fact used against vampires. Kudos to the writer for doing research.

Vervain, also known as herb-of-the-cross, ma bian cao, pigeon’s grass, verbena and more, is a pretty common plant that can be found in North America, South America and even Europe, among other places. The use of vervain in folklore is pretty common; it was believed to have many supernatural and divine purposes. In the early Christian era, folk legend stated that vervain was used to staunch Jesus’ wounds after his removal from the cross, which is how is got its holy nickname. Even the ancient Romans believed that it was a sacred herb and used it to sanitize their homes and temples. The ancient Celtic Druids also believed the plant was sacred. So, it’s pretty clear this plant was well known and used by many for many supernatural reasons.

Now to the vampire part; in some legends it is used to ward nasty lil’ vampires. You could do this by mixing it in some herbal tea and drinking it, by simply keeping the plant near you or putting some vervain oil into your bath. It was also used in some charms, like the necklace in Vampire Diaries. Not only was it used to keep the blood suckers away but it was also used to keep them out of your head, once again, like in the show.

So as you can see, the show wasn’t off on this one. Who would have thought that a vampire drama show could be educational.

- Moonlight