| 释义 |
verbena|vɜːˈbiːnə|
[a. L. verbēna (usually in pl. verbēnæ) in sense 1, med. and mod.L. verbēna (= L. verbēnāca) in sense 2; hence also It., Sp., Pg. verbena, and F. verveine vervain.]
1. Roman Antiq. In pl., the leaves or twigs of certain plants or shrubs (as olive, myrtle, laurel, etc.) having a sacred character and employed in religious ceremonies.
1600Holland Livy App. 1359 There was an hallowed place likewise upon the Capitoll, from whence they gathered Verbenæ, or sacred hearbs. 1685Temple Ess., Gardens Wks. 1720 I. 178 Verbenas, which signifies all Kinds of Sweet or Sacred Plants that were used for adorning the Altars; as Bays, Olive, Rosemary, Myrtle. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 98 Passages were culled..with as much care and reverence as the sacred verbenæ that grew within the enclosure of the Capitolini.
2. The plant vervain; also, one or other plant of the genus Verbena or the order Verbenaceæ.
1562Turner Herbal ii. 161 b, And Pliny maketh two kindes of Verbena, or Verbenaca. 1706Phillips (ed. Kersey), Verbena, the Herb Vervain, much us'd by the ancient Heathens in their Sacrifices. 1731Miller Gard. Dict., Verbena, Vervain. 1827–44Willis Declaration 4 A scent Of orange leaves and sweet verbena. 1842Loudon Suburban Hort. 261 Cuttings of hardy or half-hardy herbaceous plants, such as pinks,..petunias, verbenas, rockets. 1891Hall Caine Scapegoat ix, The country of the verbena and the musk that lies outside the walls of Fez.
attrib.1855Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 207 Verbenaceæ. The Verbena Tribe.
b. With distinguishing terms.
1847Darlington Amer. Weeds (1860) 228 Nettle-leaved Verbena. Common Vervain. 1852G. W. Johnson Cottage Gard. Dict. 27/1 Aloysia, sweet-scented Verbena. 1866Treas. Bot. 1210/1 The Aloysia citriodora is the Lemon-scented Verbena of the gardens. 1888Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 163/2 The garden verbenas, once so popular for bedding out, are derivatives from various South-American species.
3. A perfume obtained from the leaves of vervain. oil of verbena (see quots.).
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Verbena, an otto, one of the finest perfumes, obtained by distillation from the citron-scented leaves of Aloysia citriodora. Owing to its high price it is..imitated..by mixing the otto of lemon grass with rectified spirits, and this passes as oil of verbena. 1866Treas. Bot. 1210/1 The lemon-grass, Andropogon Schœnanthus or A. citratum, from which the ‘oil of verbena’ is extracted. |
